On Sunday, U.S. Border Patrol came under attack when a large group of Central American migrants from the infamous caravan stormed the wall near the San Ysidro port of entry just outside of Tijuana, Mexico. The Border Patrol responded by dispersing the group (mostly adult males) with tear gas, a non-lethal method. Yet, during their Monday evening broadcasts, ABC and NBC were aghast and suggested President Trump was defending the tear gassing of children.
As if it was America’s greatest shame caught on video, sensationalist ABC anchor David Muir began the World News Tonight segment by declaring: “The images of the tear gas used at the U.S./Mexico border seen across the country and the world.” “This mother and her children among those caught in the chaos,” he continued.
As chief national correspondent Matt Gutman began his report, he was in full spin mode and claimed the migrants were conducting a “peaceful protest” when they were clashing with Mexican police. “They were met by a wall of tear gas unleashed by heavily-armed U.S. agents behind those coils of concertina wire,” he noted disapprovingly, before touting how “[s]ome of those migrants throwing the canisters right back.”
“Thick smoke sending mothers with children in diapers into a panic,” Gutman huffed, failing to ask why children were dragged there to begin with. “Today, the President denied that agents used tear gas against children,” he lied.
Gutman also spoke to a teenager supposedly injured in their assault on the border and cheered on his future attempts to get in the U.S. illegally:
We met 16-year-old Henry, covered in those bandages. One of the things that he says is that he's not going to stop, he wants to still get into the United States, and he's not going to quit now just because he was wounded.
Meanwhile, on NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt was disgusted that “President Trump is defending the use of tear gas on migrants who rushed at a major border crossing and attempted to get into the U.S. illegally. Now he's threatening to shut the border down permanently.”
NBC correspondent Gabe Gutierrez falsely blamed Border Patrol for starting the clashing. “What started as a peaceful march, turned into chaos. U.S. authorities fired tear gas at mostly adult males but some of it hit women and children including Maria Mesa, her escape captured in this dramatic photo,” he insisted. There was no mention of their clashes with Mexican police before they got to the border.
Speaking to the mother who brought her kids to assault the wall, Gutierrez bought into her claim she was just down in the dried Tijuana river bed to seek asylum. “When I see that photo, I just want to cry,” he translated, “claiming that she wasn't crossing the border illegally, but trying to reach it to apply for asylum.”
In the next report, NBC chief White House correspondent Hallie Jackson perpetuated the false assertion Trump was fine with gassing children. “This is Hallie Jackson in Washington, where the President is now defending how U.S. agents protected the border, firing tear gas at migrants including the mother who spoke with NBC News about shielding her kids,” she proclaimed.
Jackson also highlighted herself assailing Trump with this obscured question: “Are you comfortable tear gassing children like what we saw at the border?” Anything to make him look like a third-world despot. Jackson wouldn’t dare ask that question to former President Obama who gassed migrants at least once a month.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
November 26, 2018
6:37:07 p.m. Eastern [2 minutes]DAVID MUIR: The images of the tear gas used at the U.S./Mexico border seen across the country and the world. Thousands of migrants from that caravan have now arrived in Tijuana. Some of them breaking through Mexican security, U.S. Border Patrol, then firing tear gas at them. This mother and her children among those caught in the chaos. Tonight, President Trump was asked about the tear gas, and here's ABC's chief national correspondent Matt Gutman from Tijuana.
[Cuts to video]
MATT GUTMAN: Tonight, more than 100 migrants deported following those violent clashes in the border town of Tijuana. A peaceful protest turning chaotic when hundreds of Central American migrants first clashed with Mexican police. Then, rushed the border fence. They were met by a wall of tear gas unleashed by heavily-armed U.S. agents behind those coils of concertina wire. Some of those migrants throwing the canisters right back. Thick smoke sending mothers with children in diapers into a panic. Today, the President denied that agents used tear gas against children.
NBC’s HALLIE JACKSON: Are you comfortable tear gassing children like what we saw at the border?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They're not, as you know, they're not. They had to use, because they were being rushed by some very tough people.
GUTMAN: We met 16-year-old Henry, covered in those bandages. One of the things that he says is that he's not going to stop, he wants to still get into the United States, and he's not going to quit now just because he was wounded. The clashes forced authorities to close the San Ysidro port of entry, one of the busiest on the planet, for nearly seven hours. Thousands of people, most there legally, stranded at the border.
[Cuts to video]
MUIR: All right, Matt Gutman with us live tonight from Tijuana, and Matt, the Department of Defense just announcing that they're moving more troops to California, to the border there to offer support?
GUTMAN: That's right. 300 additional troops to California, bringing the total there to 1,800. Now, there is a concern of a prolonged standoff here, the migrant caravan is expected to swell to over 9,000, and it could take months, David, just to process all those asylum requests.
MUIR: All right, Matt Gutman, thank you.
NBC Nightly News
November 26, 2018
7:05:09 p.m. Eastern [1 minute 52 seconds]LESTER HOLT: President Trump is defending the use of tear gas on migrants who rushed at a major border crossing and attempted to get into the U.S. illegally. Now he's threatening to shut the border down permanently. We're covering it all starting with Gabe Gutierrez at the border tonight.
[Cuts to video]
GABE GUTIERREZ: Lester, Tijuana's mayor is calling this a humanitarian crisis. Today, Mexican police surrounded this makeshift shelter where thousands of migrants have congregated. Officers are trying to keep the peace after hundreds of people rushed the U.S. Mexico border yesterday.
What started as a peaceful march, turned into chaos. U.S. authorities fired tear gas at mostly adult males but some of it hit women and children including Maria Mesa, her escape captured in this dramatic photo. We caught up with her today. “When I see that photo, I just want to cry,” she says, claiming that she wasn't crossing the border illegally, but trying to reach it to apply for asylum.
More and more of these tents are springing up at this shelter. U.S. authorities are processing less than 100 asylum applications a day, so this is a backlog with no end in sight. Gabe Gutierrez, NBC news, Tijuana, Mexico.
HALLIE JACKSON: This is Hallie Jackson in Washington, where the President is now defending how U.S. agents protected the border, firing tear gas at migrants including the mother who spoke with NBC News about shielding her kids.
Are you comfortable tear gassing children like what we saw at the border?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They are not, as you know, they’re not. They had to use because they were being rushed by very tough people and they used tear gas. And here is the bottom line, nobody is coming into our country unless they come in legally.
JACKSON: President Trump today suggests he might close the southern border for good if Mexico doesn't disburse the group of gathering migrants. A controversial and unlikely shutdown threat as he warns after a different shutdown back in Washington.
(…)
