On Sunday night, liberal comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell kicked off the third season of his United Shades of America show by spending an hour trying to undermine the case for improved border security, and even pushed for an open border where it is much easier for non-citizens to enter the country whenever they want as he declared that "this idea of borders and walls is ridiculous."
He began the show by evoking the Berlin Wall, noting that "they realized the wall was dumb, they tore it down, and now they're one," and, after recalling the Great Wall of China's failure to keep out American culture, he declared that "the point is, walls suck."
The CNN host spent the first portions of the show speaking with people who live on the border who yearn for the days of past decades when it was easier for people who live near the border to cross back and forth to work and visit restaurants.
In one of the better portions of the show, about halfway in, he was shown riding with and speaking to border patrol agents who explained why it was important for them to patrol the border because it is impossible to tell by appearances who is coming into the country to commit crimes and who has more innocent motivations.
He then pivoted to another group of Border Patrol agents who were seen discarding water that had been left in the desert to aid illegals as they sneak into the country, and wondered which group was more representative of Border Patrol agents in general.
Bell was soon seen visiting a local hospital where the bodies of immigrants are brought when they die trying to cross the desert, and then spoke to a woman who tries to identify the bodies and contact their loved ones as the two suggested that increased border security efforts were to blame for more immigrants dying while crossing the desert. The CNN host commented to her that it sounded 'un-American."
He soon was seen speaking with a couple who complained about the number of border agents increasing over the last few decades who argued that it did not make them feel any safer, with Bell marveling that a "white couple" were dismissing the importance of border security.
Nearing the end of the show, the liberal comedian bemoaned the increased deportation efforts of illegals by the Trump administration, and showed clips of family members left behind in the U.S. grieving over their family members being forced to leave the country.
Bell concluded the show with a commentary in which he alluded back to Native Americans he had spoken with earlier in the show who for centuries had migrated between Mexico and the U.S. Bell: "Again, this idea of borders and walls is ridiculous. We're too good for this."
He suggested that the "change" that is needed is for the border to become easier to cross and showed soundbites of border residents he had spoken with who were pushing for a more open border. One woman was shown calling for a "porous" border, and, after Bell earlier dismissed the notion that immigrant workers displace American workers, a man was shown calling for immigrants to be allowed to come into the country and do whatever jobs they want.
Apart from the two border agents he showed for a few minutes, there were no other voices included who made arguments against harmful effects of immigration that is not managed properly
