On The Sunday Show, MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart admitted that illegal border crossings are now at a record low, but seemed to do so only so he could scoff at President Donald Trump for wanting to send more troops to the border.
Contributor Maria Hinojosa went on to deny there were people flooding across the border last year as in spite of there being record illegal border crossings over the past four years compared to previous years.
Capehart began the segment by finding "cruelty" in the President declaring English to be the official language of the United States:
If cruelty really is the point of the Trump administration, its handling of immigration is the proof. Just last night, for the first time in United States history, President Trump signed an executive order designating English as our country's official language.
He added:
The order rescinds a mandate from former President Bill Clinton that requires the government and organizations that receive federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers. This means that, in a country built in part by immigrants, access to crucial services for non-English speakers could be drastically restricted.
He then related for viewers that the Pentagon is planning to send 3,000 troops to the border, and then suggested that they are not necessary and are just being sent for show:
Here's the thing: The number of illegal migrant crossings is at record lows right now. Even President Trump acknowledges this -- right there on the screen. So it's unclear why this extra military force is even needed. But this type of performative political theater coming out of the Trump administration is nothing new, and we will likely witness more of Trump's theatrics on this issue when he addresses Congress on Tuesday.
Unlike Fox, he did not go so far as to inform viewers that the number of border crossings in February were only about 8,300 compared to about 96,000 in February a year ago, or that there has been a record drop in migrants dying at the border after such deaths happened at record levels under President Joe Biden.
After he got Hinojosa to react to the President's move on the English language, Capehart followed up by asking her about the sending of troops to the border, leading her to complain:
It's ridiculous, Jonathan, and, you know, a year ago exactly in this time, I was at the border at a time when there was supposed to be flooding of migrants, right? I didn't see that, and I was at the border in the Tucson area.
Not mentioned was that a record number of immigrants came into the country during Biden's presidency, including at least two million known gotaways.
After recalling that she saw two men cross the border and pray before turning themselves over to the Border Patrol, she concluded: "So what is absolutely out of control is the militarization of the border, not the people who are coming here. And we know that the people who are coming here are not criminals."
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's The Sunday Show
March 2, 2025
6:19 p.m. Eastern
JONATHAN CAPEHART: If cruelty really is the point of the Trump administration, its handling of immigration is the proof. Just last night, for the first time in United States history, President Trump signed an executive order designating English as our country's official language. The order rescinds a mandate from former President Bill Clinton that requires the government and organizations that receive federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers. This means that, in a country built in part by immigrants, access to crucial services for non-English speakers could be drastically restricted.
Meanwhile, at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Pentagon is sending nearly 3,000 additional active duty troops. On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved orders to deploy soldiers primarily from the Stryker Brigade combat team to the border. Here's the thing: The number of illegal migrant crossings is at record lows right now. Even President Trump acknowledges this -- right there on the screen.
So it's unclear why this extra military force is even needed. But this type of performative political theater coming out of the Trump administration is nothing new, and we will likely witness more of Trump's theatrics on this issue when he addresses Congress on Tuesday.
(...)
What do you make of the idea of sending that Stryker force to the border when even the President says border crossings are at a record low?
MARIA HINOJOSA, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: It's ridiculous, Jonathan, and, you know, a year ago exactly in this time, I was at the border at a time when there was supposed to be flooding of migrants, right? I didn't see that, and I was at the border in the Tucson area. What I did see, Jonathan, is the wall exists, but for 21 miles on the Tucson border, there are 19 openings -- 19 openings -- as large for multiple cattle to come through -- holds under or allowing that anybody if they're with the Border Patrol, they could just fill with cement open.
And I met two men who had crossed through one of those openings. And what they did -- oh, the evil -- these people who were coming to take our jobs -- they knelt and they were praying on the U.S. side of the wall after they had made it. And they were then just going to give themselves over to the Border Patrol. So what is absolutely out of control is the militarization of the border, not the people who are coming here. And we know that the people who are coming here are not criminals.
