Over the past couple of months, as there have been signs that President Donald Trump is finally making progress in turning the tide on illegal border crossings, Fox News Channel has given substantial coverage to several critical successes while the other networks have barely touched these developments.
And, over the past several days, as CNN has been acknowledging the drop in illegal crossings, it has done so by running a report several times that complains about the plight of asylum seekers who were sent to Mexico to await their hearings after Mexico agreed to house them so the U.S. would not have to release them into the U.S. interior, thus providing a way for the Trump administration to get around the tangled web of legal precedents.
On New Day Sunday, introducing a piece that also ran on Friday's New Day, and again on CNN Newsroom, co-host Christi Paul set up the story: "Now, President Trump says things are getting better along the U.S.-Mexico border. The reality is they're getting worse for families. There's families waiting for their immigration cases to be called on."
Co-host Victor Blackwell added: "Less than a five-minute walk from the Texas border, thousands of migrants are living in camps with deteriorating living conditions. CNN's Nick Valencia went there."
Correspondent Nick Valencia began his report by recalling the case of a Central American woman he spoke with who crossed the border into the U.S. -- illegally presumably -- and then was required to travel back to Mexico to await the asylum process:
It's part of the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols -- a policy which now requires migrants like her to remain in Mexico for her asylum cases to be called on if they cross illegally or without proper documentation. More than 55,000 people are now scattered in camps all throughout the U.S.-Mexico border.
Soon came a clip of Acting ICE director Matthew Albence recalling that the policy change has led to a reduction of illegal border crossings:
MATTHEW ALBENCE, ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: What we have seen, which is consistent with my experience as we have seen time and time again, that when individuals cannot come into this country illegally and be released from detention, the numbers of those individuals that try to come to this country decreases.
Then, for a significant portion of the report, Valencia could be seen speaking with an immigrant rights activist who complained about the Trump administration's immigration policy. Valencia asked: "This is as a result of U.S. policy?"
ACLU attorney Rochelle Garza declared: "Yes. This entire encampment -- these conditions -- these deaths -- these drownings -- all of it is a result of U.S. policy."
The CNN correspondent then relayed her complaints:
ACLU of Texas staff attorney Rochelle Garza says the migrants are being denied due process. She says their fate is being decided in an unprecedented way in makeshift tent courts. The policy is being challenged in court, but for now, is being allowed to proceed. The Department of Homeland Security has credited the program with slowing the flow of migrants at the border.
As the two walked through the camp, Valencia posed: "You hear the President say that things have gotten better on the border, and then we walk through scenes like this."
Several Fox News shows, especially Fox and Friends, have given regular coverage to the Trump administration's successes -- including an agreement with Mexico to house asylum seekers and use its military to stop caravans and other illegal immigrants trying to reach the U.S., and agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala. Additionally, there has been a consistent substantial drop in illegal border crossings for several months, cutting the levels back to where they were a year ago.
Even though CNN's New Day in September did take the time one day to acknowledge the drop in illegal crossings as CBP's Mark Morgan appeared as a guest, just a few weeks ago, correspondent Tom Foreman mocked the notion that President Trump's threat to impose tariffs had helped him make a deal with Mexico to get the country's assistance.
On the Friday, October 18, CNN Newsroom, Foreman declared: "This is one of the oldest political tricks in the book, which makes it odd for a man who says he's not really a politician. Create a crisis, clean it up, then ask for credit for what you did."
After recalling President Trump's policies on Syria and North Korea, the CNN correspondent then got to the issue of border security and suggested that Trump was to blame for illegal immigration problems, and that the President had not accomplished anything in his dealings with Mexico.
Relevant transcripts follow.
From the November 4 New Day Sunday on CNN:
CHRISTI PAUL: Now, President Trump says things are getting better along the U.S.-Mexico border. The reality is they're getting worse for families. There's families waiting for their immigration cases to be called on.
VICTOR BLACKWELL: Less than a five-minute walk from the Texas border, thousands of migrants are living in camps with deteriorating living conditions. CNN's Nick Valencia went there.
NICK VALENCIA: In this migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, the suffering is everywhere. Angela, the mother of this sick two-year-old, says that two months ago, they crossed into the United States seeking asylum. After three days in U.S. custody, they were put on a bus and driven into Mexico. It's part of the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols -- a policy which now requires migrants like her to remain in Mexico for her asylum cases to be called on if they cross illegally or without proper documentation. More than 55,000 people are now scattered in camps all throughout the U.S.-Mexico border.
(…)
VALENCIA: The camps are overseen by the Mexican government, which has publicly committed to protecting the migrants. But their asylum proceedings and, in many ways, their fate is entirely controlled by the United States.
MATTHEW ALBENCE, ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: What we have seen, which is consistent with my experience as we have seen time and time again, that when individuals cannot come into this country illegally and be released from detention, the numbers of those individuals that try to come to this country decreases.
VALENCIA: This is as a result of U.S. policy?
ROCHELLE GARZA, ACLU OF TEXAS: Yes. This entire encampment -- these conditions -- these deaths -- these drownings -- all of it is a result of U.S. policy.
VALENCIA: ACLU of Texas staff attorney Rochelle Garza says the migrants are being denied due process. She says their fate is being decided in an unprecedented way in makeshift tent courts. The policy is being challenged in court, but for now, is being allowed to proceed. The Department of Homeland Security has credited the program with slowing the flow of migrants at the border.
VALENCIA: You hear the President say that things have gotten better on the border, and then we walk through scenes like this.
GARZA: It's gotten better because they feel like they've gotten rid of the problem.
VALENCIA: Which is sort of shoving it five feet from our border.
GARZA: And it's right at our doorstep of the United States. And this is entirely our fault. This whole thing people are living.
(…)
From the Friday, October 18, CNN Newsroom:
2:49 p.m. Eastern
ANA CABRERA: Despite reports of scattered clashes in northern Syria, President Trump is again today praising what he claims is a ceasefire brokered by his administration, but what Turkey is calling a pause. Trump seems to be following a playbook we have seen several times during his presidency -- taking credit for cleaning up a crisis that he either created himself or exacerbated. ...
TOM FOREMAN: This is one of the oldest political tricks in the book, which makes it odd for a man who says he's not really a politician. Create a crisis, clean it up, then ask for credit for what you did.
(…)
FOREMAN: Remember what happened with Mexico. There was all that talk for days about serous, huge tariffs on Mexico if they didn't stop all the Central American migrants who are coming up and then coming into the United States. In the end, again, a lot of threat, a lot of noise, and then the President said, "You know, we've worked it out -- things are better now." He cleaned it up and took credit. Again, Ana, for someone who says he's not a politician, time and time and time again, he uses one of the oldest political tricks in the book.
