Just a few hours after President Trump sent out Attorney General Jeff Sessions to announce the rescindment of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), Trump signaled on Twitter that if Congress couldn’t codify DACA in 6 months, he would “revisit this issue.” But despite what seemed like the President looking for a way to handle the issue with “heart,” like he said he wanted too, CBS Evening News continued to decry Trump’s decision while touting his detractors on Wednesday.
To kick off the DACA segment, Anchor Anthony Mason he praised the fact that 15 states had signed on to sue the Trump administration over the future of the program. “Today, 15 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit challenging the President's action. They want to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation,” he said.
There was no mention of the fact that the lawsuit would be on shaky legal ground, seeing as DACA was created through an executive order and not a law passed by Congress, which was something the Trump administration was asking for.
Although, in his report, Correspondent Major Garrett did note that “President Trump said he has no regrets about ending the DACA program and throwing it to Congress to implement a permanent fix.”
But Garrett stacked his report with the condemnation of those who opposed the President’s move. “Backlash to the President's decision has come from education, business, and religious leaders,” he hyped.
He spoke with the president of the University of Maryland who was an immigrant himself and opposed the President’s decision. “It is so antithetical to the values of our nation,” University President Wallace Loh told Garrett.
“In a statement, Microsoft called the move, quote: ‘A big step back for our entire country’ and vowed to protect its Dreamer employees,” Garrett reported. “Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg spoke out on a live chat today.” “I think rescinding DACA is a particularly cruel decision to make,” Zuckerberg said in a clip.
As for the religious leader, Garrett cited Archbishop Timothy Dolan who suggested Trump’s decision was “contrary to the spirit of the Bible and of our country.”
The only voice of support for the President’s move came in the form of a paraphrased quote from House Speaker Paul Ryan, which was buried near the end of Garrett’s segment. “House Speaker Paul Ryan said President Trump made the right call ending DACA, and he expressed confidence legislative compromise can be found,” he recalled.
CBS’s pro-DACA report came a day after they dedicated 100 percent of their evening news coverage to the program’s advocates.
The network’s pro-DACA bias was sponsored by Trivago, Xeljanz XR, and Ford.
Transcript below:
CBS Evening News
September 6, 2017
6:39:47 PM EasternANTHONY MASON: Hours after the President announced plans yesterday to scrap the DACA program, he tweeted that he may revisit the issue six months from now. Today, 15 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit challenging the President's action. They want to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation. Here's Major Garrett.
[Cuts to video]
DONALD TRUMP: No second thoughts.
MAJOR GARRETT: President Trump said he has no regrets about ending the DACA program and throwing it to Congress to implement a permanent fix.
TRUMP: I hope they do. I certainly hope they do.
GARRETT: The Trump administration called the Obama-era program unconstitutional and faced a lawsuit from Republican-led states making that argument. But Ohio Governor John Kasich, himself a Republican, disagreed on CBS This Morning.
JOHN KASICH: I would have said to him, all right, sue me. And by the way, I'm going to expose you for what you are, because you're putting kids at risk.
GARRETT: Backlash to the President's decision has come from education, business, and religious leaders.
WALLACE LOH: It is so antithetical to the values of our nation.
GARRETT: Wallace Loh is the president of the University of Maryland where 110 so-called Dreamers are enrolled.
(…)
GARRETT: In a statement, Microsoft called the move, quote: "A big step back for our entire country" and vowed to protect its Dreamer employees. Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg spoke out on a live chat today.
MARK ZUCKERBERG: I think rescinding DACA is a particularly cruel decision to make.
GARRETT: Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, called DACA's termination “contrary to the spirit of the Bible and of our country.” At the University of Maryland, President Loh says the school is now facing uncertainty.
(…)
[Cuts back to live]
GARRETT: House Speaker Paul Ryan said President Trump made the right call ending DACA, and he expressed confidence legislative compromise can be found. But Ryan stressed he will bring no bill to the floor that does not have the President's vocal support. Anthony?
