On Thursday, the CBS Evening News was the only broadcast evening newscast brave enough to attempt to boast about President Biden’s latest moves on immigration, despite the revelation that he was storing migrant children in shipping containers. After touting Biden’s move to allow asylum seekers into the U.S., anchor Norah O’Donnell and correspondent Mireya Villarreal rushed past the “kids in containers” and just noted the outrage over the “facility.”
Villarreal only reserved the last 22 seconds of her segment to mention how Biden was treating the migrant kids:
Tonight, we've also learned that border crossings by unaccompanied minor, kids who come here alone and without their parents, is on the rise as well. And now the Biden administration is under fire from immigration advocates who are upset that they are opening up a facility just outside San Antonio, Texas. Reopening that facility to house those children.
Combining the Thursday evening coverage with Wednesday morning’s shows, CBS’s total time on Biden’s kiddie kennels added up to 1 minute and 17 seconds. But at no point did they show off the Mobile Mini containers the kids were kept in. Of course, this was after they initially ignored the containers.
According to an image shared by The Washington Post when they broke the story (though they called it a “migrant facility for children”), the containers appear to have dinged up outer walls, rusty air conditioners, and barred windows.
But instead of reporting on that, CBS tried to rehabilitate Biden’s immigration image. “And tonight, the Biden administration is allowing some asylum seekers who’ve been waiting at a camp in Mexico to cross into the U.S. to have their asylum request processed,” O’Donnell announced at the top of the segment.
Ignoring the fact that the U.S. immigration system had been a mess for a long time and the asylum process normally took a long time, Villarreal falsely suggested it was Trump’s fault:
These are the faces of some of the first asylum seekers in South Texas, dozens who were living in limbo in this Mexican border camp under what the Trump administration camp called the migrant protection protocols. Now, one step closer to having their cases heard, some waiting years. The Trump administration's policy sent more than 70,000 people back to Mexico, creating a bottled neck of cases.
“Illegal crossings are also on the rise, with 3,000 arrests, on average, per day in January on the southwest border,” she added. “Coyotes are telling these families the border is open under this administration. Those illegal crossings further complicate the asylum process.”
In another case of bias by omission from Thursday’s Evening News, the network was finished reporting the sexual harassment allegations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. After ignoring the story Wednesday evening, CBS This Morning shared it with viewers Thursday morning.
CBS News really doesn’t like damaging Democratic politicians.
CBS’s refusal to show how President Biden was storing migrant children in shipping containers was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from IBM and Liberty Mutual. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund. CBS Evening News has also asked people to “text Norah” at this number: (202) 217-1107.
The transcript is below, click “expand” to read:
CBS Evening News
February 25, 2021
6:41:49 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: And tonight, the Biden administration is allowing some asylum seekers who’ve been waiting at a camp in Mexico to cross into the U.S. to have their asylum request processed. It comes as border crossings are the largest they've been in a January in the past decade. CBS's Mireya Villarreal went to the border to find out what is happening.
[Cuts to video]
MIREYA VILLARREAL: These are the faces of some of the first asylum seekers in South Texas, dozens who were living in limbo in this Mexican border camp under what the Trump administration camp called the migrant protection protocols. Now, one step closer to having their cases heard, some waiting years. The Trump administration's policy sent more than 70,000 people back to Mexico, creating a bottled neck of cases.
SAM BISHOP: Now people in the camp are remaining in place because they're currently being registered.
VILLARREAL: Sam Bishop is a former Army veteran who said these migrants deserve a fair shot.
BISHOP: There's a lot of fear in the U.S. about migration. But these are the people you don't need to be worried about. They're trying to do it in the right way. They’re trying to do it responsibly and in a manner that's consistent with our laws.
VILLARREAL: Illegal crossings are also on the rise, with 3,000 arrests, on average, per day in January on the southwest border.
(Speaking to a migrant mother) You have two?
Some of the families we spoke with say they crossed the border with a smuggler. Coyotes are telling these families the border is open under this administration. Those illegal crossings further complicate the asylum process.
ANDREA RUDNIK (Team Brownsville Volunteer): It seems very unfair to the people that are still in the encampment, because they have waited to go through a very legal process, and they've been there more than a year and a half now.
VILLARREAL: Is this a by-product of just a system that has had a ton of Band-Aids but no true solution, no true fix?
RUDNIK: That's true. And Mexico said that they would not accept families back with young children anymore.
[Cuts to video]
VILLARREAL: Tonight, we've also learned that border crossings by unaccompanied minor, kids who come here alone and without their parents, is on the rise as well. And now the Biden administration is under fire from immigration advocates who are upset that they are opening up a facility just outside San Antonio, Texas. Reopening that facility to house those children. Norah.
O’DONNELL: Mireya Villarreal, thank you.
