On Tuesday's CNN Tonight during a segment in which liberals outnumbered conservatives 3-1, CNN political commentator Angela Rye trashed pro-Trump evangelicals who support cracking down on illegal immigration, calling them "heartless human beings" who are "sick."
And for his part, host Don Lemon accidentally declared that illegals are facing increased "federal persecution" before catching himself and correcting it to "prosecution" -- although it was quite possibly a Freudian slip of his personal opinions on the subject.
At 11:40 p.m. Eastern, Lemon brought up the topic: "The Trump administration ramping up its zero-tolerance policy for undocumented immigrants caught crossing America's southern borders, referring those who are caught for federal persecution, okay -- prosecution, excuse me."
After recalling reports that "tent cities" on military bases may be used to house children while their parents are being processed for crossing the border illegally, the CNN host first went to Rye for reaction. She began:
I think it's atrocious -- it's inhumane. The idea that we're talking about children being separated from their families and housed in tent cities in 2018 is beyond me. I don't care what race they are -- I don't care how old they are -- this is like insane at this point
After complaining that supporters of enforcing immigration laws have "blinders of bigotry," the liberal commentator invoked slavery as she added: "The thing I continue to think about when I was reading this piece, Don, are kids who are separated from their families during slavery. How dare we go back to that time?"
A bit later, when Rye had a second turn to speak, Lemon pushed back by repeating a point made by the lone conservative guest, CNN contributor Alice Stewart, that the parents are to blame for the children having to spend time away from them. In her response, Rye brought up evangelical Christians who support President Donald Trump and excoriated them:
Shame on them because some of them are evangelical Christians who have overwhelmingly continued to support Donald Trump, and I want to know what Bible they're reading. Like, shame on you, seriously. You're heartless human beings. I'm praying for you because you're sick.
