In a disturbing video posted on Twitter a week ago, migrant activist and leader of the massive 80,000-person caravan heading to the U.S.-Mexico border, Irineo Mujica declared that they were “ready for war” with the National Guard if they would not let them through regardless if they had the proper documentation or not. And equally disturbing, at no point in the last seven days had the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, or NBC) shared this very clear threat with their viewers.
Despite the story circulating for a week, Fox News Channel was the only major television outlet to give it considerable airtime with multiple segments throughout the weekend. And by Monday, they were still at it while ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News were gushing about Paul McCartney blaming John Lennon for the Beatles breaking up.
Meanwhile, the story was so widespread at it even showed up in reporting from a local Chicago television station, WGN9. It also showed up on NewsNation Now’s On Balance with Leland Vittert. “You would think that given all this information, the Biden administration would be sending for reinforcements and sending them to the border,” said Vittert, but he wasn’t.
In Fox’s most recent reporting on the matter, during Monday’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, national correspondent Bill Melugin shared a soundbite of Mujica’s threat with an on-screen translation. “And this time, with papers or without papers, we are ready for war. If the National Guard comes, and they are so cowardly to want to hit women and children, get ready,” he yelled.
Things got even more disturbing as Mujica seemed to suggest they were on some sort of holy mission: “Because we go from the hand of God. And with the hand of God, there are no weapons against the hand of God.”
And in leading up to that threat of “war,” Melugin shared a video he took of a Mexican drug cartel shooting bullets with tracer rounds across the border into the U.S.:
MELUGIN: And just a few nights after the incident, we were embedded with the Texas National Guard when a cartel machine gun fired across the border directly into the United States. I caught it on video. Take a look at this.
[Cuts to video]
TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS (indistinguishable): Look there they are. Holy sh[bleep], oh shoot. That’s definitely U.S. side. .50 cal. That's just indiscriminate firing.
“And what you're looking at right there are tracer rounds from a suspected cartel machine gun. Those are coming from Mexico directly into the United States, those rounds went right over a National Guard observation post,” he added.
Melugin also reported that Biden had ordered hundreds of millions of dollars in already purchased, but not yet installed border wall panels thrown out.
Carlson concluded the segment by saying what was probably on the minds of a lot of people, “It's all beyond belief.”
The Monday omission of the threat of “war” by the caravan leader was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Amazon on ABC, Tylenol on CBS, and Ford Motor Company on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
October 10, 2021
8:35:47 p.m. EasternTUCKER CARLSON: As if there's not enough going on this week, we've just learned that there is yet another caravan of foreign nationals who do not have permission to come to this country but will come here anyway, making its way toward our southern border tonight. That border remains completely open and very dangerous to this country. Fox’s Bill Melugin, as always, is live for us right there tonight. He joins us now. Hey, Bill.
BILL MELUGIN: Hey, Tucker, good evening to you. So look, as this border crisis continues to get worse month after month, the drug cartels operating out here are starting to get a lot bolder in their actions. Take a look at these photos out of Roma, Texas from the other day.
What you're looking at is cartel gunmen involved in human smuggling armed with rifles standing on the other side of the Rio Grande and taunting Texas National Guard soldiers just across the river. These guys were racking the slides on their rifles and yelling over to the soldiers, making threats.
And just a few nights after the incident, we were embedded with the Texas National Guard when a cartel machine gun fired across the border directly into the United States. I caught it on video. Take a look at this.
[Cuts to video]
TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS (indistinguishable): Look there they are. Holy sh[bleep], oh shoot. That’s definitely U.S. side. .50 cal. That's just indiscriminate firing.
[Cuts back to live]
MELUGIN: And what you're looking at right there are tracer rounds from a suspected cartel machine guns. Those are coming from Mexico directly into the United States, those rounds went right over a National Guard observation post. It was unclear if it was from some sort of a cartel gun battle in the Mexico City or if it was an intimidation factor but thankfully no soldiers were injured. But pretty rare to see that kind of gunfire coming directly into the United States.
As this is all going on, as you mentioned, there’s another migrant caravan down in Mexico, tens of thousands, trying to get to the U.S. and they've got an activist leader who has some fighting words. Take a listen.
IRINEO MUJICA (in Spanish, via on-screen translation): And this time, with papers or without papers, we are ready for war. If the National Guard comes, and they are so cowardly to want to hit women and children, get ready. Because we go from the hand of God. And with the hand of God, there are no weapons against the hand of God.
MELUGIN: And then lastly, take a look at this piece of remarkable video that our Fox drone team shot here in the Rio Grande Valley today. What you are looking at are more than 20,000 steel panels of border wall that were supposed to be built. Instead, they are just sitting around in storage. They have been since January when President Biden halted all construction on the border wall.
Just last Friday, the Biden administration officially announced they are canceling all remaining border wall contracts here in the Rio Grande Valley. So all this metal you see, it's already paid for. I'm told that stash in particular is worth about $120 million, taxpayers on the hook for it. It was ready to go into the ground, it is not going to be used, it is just went to sit there.
And to wrap it up here, the Biden administration says they are going to plan to use the remaining money from the border wall funding to instead fund environmental projects out here, including some for, quote, "Cultural surveys." We’ll send it back to you.
TUCKER: It's all beyond belief. Bill Melugin, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
