After having been repeatedly called out on this site for skimping on the latest episode in the Biden border crisis, CBS and NBC finally had full segments Tuesday night and Wednesday morning on the record invasion of illegal immigrants pouring across the U.S. southern border and pushing strained border towns to a breaking point (while ABC moved on).
Title 42 is slated to end in just over a week, so that’s been a major catalyst for the surge and droves waiting just across in northern Mexico, but consider this: Isn’t it intriguing that the networks have shown sobriety on this issue barely a week after the formal end of the midterms?
“Tonight, facilities along the southern border are being stretched to the breaking point because of an increase in migrants from Central America and the numbers are expected to grow in the coming weeks,” announced CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell.
Chief White House correspondent Nancy Cores noted that “[t]he numbers have startled even longtime activists” with “2,400 migrants attempting to pass the border near El Paso Sunday alone” on top of the fact that “encounters...were smashing records this year.”
Adding that the COVID-related measure, Title 42 is slated to expire next week, Cordes noted Homeland Security Security Alejandro Mayorkas “was on the border today, even as a group of Republicans vowed to impeach him once they control the House next year.”
After a soundbite of Congressman Randy Weber (R-TX) saying Mayorkas “has failed to secure our border and has thus endangered Americans,” Cordes concluded that with October’s border crossings hitting a massive 230,000, it’s possible they could “more than double” once Title 42 ends.
The next day, CBS was still on the case. CBS Mornings co-host Nate Burleson said in the “Eye Opener” that “[b]order officials in Texas say they are overwhelmed by a new surge in asylum seekers.” Then, co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King said there’s “a crush of migrants entering the U.S. in El Paso, Texas” that’s left “[b]order officials...overwhelmed.”
Correspondent Lilia Luciano noted that this has been happening at a rapidly-increasing rate “[o]ver the last year and half,” but this surge has El Paso “at a breaking point” with people in the airport, shelters, and the streets.
Luciano reiterated the end of Title 42 next week, “which allows for quick expulsions as a way to curb the spread of COVID instead of letting people stay and make their case for asylum.” As a result, she said “local authorities are asking the Biden administration and Congress for emergency funds to manage the crisis, as well as an emergency federal shelter”.
Over on Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News, correspondent Gabe Gutierrez reported from Juarez, Mexico that “[t]housands have come in huge groups just over the past several days, burning fires to keep warm, many from Nicaragua,” with “tension has been ramping up” after Mexican “riot police broke” up a “migrant camp” a few weeks ago.
Gutierrez met some who are planning to wait until the already open border becomes even more open thanks to the Biden administration’s open border policies when Title 42 ends (click “expand”):
GUTIERREZ: Late today, there are still hundreds of migrants that have walked across the Rio Grande and right now are waiting to get into El Paso. This new influx that we’re seeing comes just days before a federal court is set to lift the pandemic-era border restriction known as Title 42. Today, we met this family of four from Guatemala who arrived here weeks ago. Now, they’re waiting until Title 42 is lifted before they decide whether to cross into the United States. With U.S. migrant processing centers already crowded, and some migrants even sleeping outside, some officials in El Paso are urging the mayor to declare a state of emergency.
EL PASO, TEXAS DEPUTY CITY MANAGER MARIO D’AGOSTINO: It is a crisis. It is a state of emergency. There is no — there is no municipality alone that can handle what we’re seeing and what we’re about to see with the lifting of Title 42.
GUTIERREZ: Today, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited El Paso when he’s facing Republican calls for impeachment. There was a record- breaking 2.4 million illegal border crossings in the last year. Critics of the Biden administration say its lax border policies will encourage an even larger influx when Title 42 is lifted. Customs and Border Protection agents tell NBC News, daily illegal border crossings could reach a record 10,000 per day. This man from Ecuador says a cartel kidnapped him during his grueling journey, and that he only survived because the Mexican military rescued him and hundreds of others. Tonight, Secretary Mayorkas is defending the administration’s border policies, saying immigration is very complex.
NBC’s Today also featured Gutierrez, who rehashed much of his previous story (minus the calls from Republicans to impeach Mayorkas for his negligence on the border), but added how “[w]ith the wind chill, temperatures feel like they’re below freezing here and some migrants have spent a miserable night.”
Like on Tuesday, Gutierrez peddled Biden administration spin: “The Department Homeland Security blames criminal smuggling organizations for exploiting migrants for profit and says it's deployed more agents to the region.”
CBS and NBC arriving on scene at the border was brought to you by advertisers such as Amazon, the maker of Ring (on NBC) and Ensure (on CBS). Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcripts, click here (for December 13’s CBS Evening News), here (for December 13’s NBC Nightly News), here (for December 14’s CBS Mornings), and here (for the December 14 edition of NBC’s Today).
