During Tuesday’s edition of The Beat With Ari Melber, one of the panelists, far-left immigration activist and open borders advocate Enrique Morones of the group “Border Angels” said that “Donald Trump, without a doubt, is pure evil. No other country in the Americas has walls.” Melber let him go on a two-minute rant without interruption.
Morones also claimed that “people are dying right now because of the wall that already exists. Eleven thousand people have died because of the 700-mile wall that already exists.” He later invoked some Nazi references, saying “that hasn’t happened in this country since the time of slavery. It hasn’t happened in the world since the time of the Nazis and Donald Trump is right there with him. So I’m ashamed. It is an embarrassment. It’s horrific and we need to be outraged and pay attention. We need to make a change. Donald Trump represents the worst of the American spirit.”
Towards the beginning of his show Tuesday evening, host Ari Melber went on a rant, telling his audience “Your federal government openly admits it’s using innocent children as a pawn in an international effort at what they call deterrence. Your government creating camps to detain these children.” Melber then introduced his panel of Trump-haters, consisting of Rep. Judy Chu, ranked by National Journal as the most liberal member of the U.S. House in 2013, “Border Angels” Founder and Director Enrique Morones, whose own website describes him as a “proud American and an even prouder Mexican,” and Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page.
Melber played some audio of conservative TV hosts and commentators weighing in on the situation at the border. In one clip, Fox News Host Laura Ingraham argued that “since more illegal immigrants are rushing the border, more kids are being separated from their parents. And temporarily housed in what are essentially summer camps.” In another, author and columnist Ann Coulter talked about “child actors weeping and crying on all the other networks 24/7 right now.”
Morones claimed “no other country in the Americas has walls.” While other countries in the Americas might not have physical walls, Mexico, which Morones loves so much, has a much more restrictive immigration policy than the United States. Morones’s love for our neighbor to the south raises the question of why he doesn’t work to resettle refugees in Mexico.
Morones eventually got around to answering Melber’s question: “And to call them child actors or to have Laura Ingraham laughing or Jeff Sessions quoting the Bible, same quotes that were used to justify slavery, it’s outrageous.”
Apparently running out of ideas, Morones invoked yet another overused Nazi comparison: “How can people do that? That hasn’t happened in this country since the time of slavery. It hasn’t happened in the world since the time of the Nazis and Donald Trump is right there with him. So I’m ashamed. It is an embarrassment. It’s horrific and we need to be outraged and pay attention. We need to make a change. Donald Trump represents the worst of the American spirit.”
Melber then turned to Page, who made the argument that “it’s like they are holding these children hostage in order to get Donald Trump’s wall.” Melber agreed, describing the children as “collateral damage” and playing a clip of then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly arguing that the Department of Homeland Security may consider separating migrant children from their parents in an effort to “deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network” in order to buttress his argument.
Based on the heated rhetoric used in this segment on MSNBC, the heated debate about immigration and the legacy media’s obsession with advancing the open borders agenda could very well continue all the way to the midterm elections.
A transcript is below. Click "expand" to read more:
The Beat With Ari Melber
06/19/18
06:05 PM
ARI MELBER: If you have a sense that things are starting to come off the rails in America right now, that things are getting worse, we can report for you tonight there is a lot of evidence to that end. Let’s speak plainly. Your federal government openly admits it’s using innocent children as a
pawn in an international effort at what they call deterrence. Your government creating camps to detain these children, and the President of the United States is lying about his own policy in a way that is brazenly sloppy even by his own standard. The kind of lies that actually gesture of
one of the more significant questions in executive can ask the rest of the nation in a constitutional democracy. What are you going to do about it? I’m joined now by California Congresswoman Judy Chu. She met yesterday with some of the children separated from their parents in facilities in California, Enrique Morones, a founder and director of Border Angels and The Chicago Tribune’s Clarence Page. Congresswoman, starting with the facts, what did you see on your tour?REP. JUDY CHU: Yesterday, 14 Congress members including myself and Leader Nancy Pelosi went down to the border in San Diego to go to one of these shelters that is housing these children. We saw 62 children ages six to 17 who were either unaccompanied minors or were
separated from their parents. And it was just overwhelming to see these really young kids as young as six being there by themselves, traumatized by the situation. We were able to talk to the mental health counselors who told us what these children are saying in private, that they feel lost, they feel abandoned, they do not know where to turn next and they are scared for their lives. This is not the America that we know.MELBER: Is this a consequence of what this Congress that you are a member of has passed or a consequence of Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance orders?
CHU: This is solely the responsibility of President Donald Trump. Donald Trump issued the zero-tolerance policy. This is what is causing these young people to be separated. Now over 2,000 of them that have been separated from their parents. And Donald Trump has the ability to reverse this. He could call Jeff Sessions right now and tell him to stop this, to stop this separation of children from their parents. So, yes, it is squarely at the feet of President Trump.
MELBER: Enrique, many things are polarized in America right now. This is an issue that as the light has shown and the facts have emerged, the attempt to politically polarize it has become I think more difficult. We showed in our intro some Republicans claiming they are against it, although they are not acting on that in the Congress tonight. Take a listen to some of the coverage on the right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA INGRAHAM: Since more illegal immigrants are rushing the border, more kids are being separated from their parents. And temporarily housed in what are essentially summer camps.
STEVE DOOCY: Some have referred to them as cages, but keep in mind this is a great big warehouse facility where they built walls out of chain-link fences.
ANN COULTER: They are saying these child actors weeping and crying on all the other networks 24/7 right now. Do not fall for it, Mr. President. These kids are being coached.
STEVE HILTON: I’m so sorry. We have to go.
COULTER: They are given scripts to read by liberals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Your response, Enrique?
ENRIQUE MORONES: I’m just outraged. I have been to these facilities. We have been working on the front lines with the people that crossed the border or on either side of the border for more than 30 years with the Border Angels. And a society is judged on how we treat our children. And what is taking place right now is horrific. Donald Trump without a doubt is pure evil. No other country in the Americas has walls. No other country in the world separates children from their parents. And to call them child actors or to have Laura Ingraham laughing or Jeff Sessions quoting the Bible, same quotes that were used to justify slavery, it’s outrageous. It is unacceptable. People are dying right now because of the wall that already exists. Eleven thousand people have died because of the 700-mile wall that already exists. We have been putting water out there for more than 20 years. I have dealt with these children. In 2014, we took in more than 100 children that were fleeing violence, much of it caused by U.S. policies in Central America. These people have no legal way of entering the country. They are desperate. And most undocumented people in the world do not come to the United States. There’s 250 million around the world, the U.S. has 11 million. But the U.S. is country that for a long, long time people looked up to. No longer. What Donald Trump is doing is pure evil. And Jeff Sessions and Pence are right side by side as are the Republicans. Donald Trump should sign an executive order and change this policy. It’s inhumane. And I and many people are crying right now you played the tapes of what was heard a couple of days ago in the centers. It is horrific. How can people do that? That hasn’t happened in this country since the time of slavery. It hasn’t happened in the world since the time of the Nazis and Donald Trump is right there with him. So I’m ashamed. It is an embarrassment. It’s horrific and we need to be outraged and pay attention. We need to make a change. Donald Trump represents the worst of the American spirit.
MELBER: And Clarence, the White House as we have reported, you know, strenuously denies aspects of this. They certainly object to some of the historical comparisons. I should mention, we have invited Mr. Miler and others on this show, offered them ample time, they are not taking us up on that at this moment. But Clarence, your view of all of this?
CLARENCE PAGE: Well, what was striking to me, Ari, if you are going to have a policy like this, own it. President Trump ran for office on this immigration issue. He was distorting it from the day he announced his campaign. And now that this policy has been implemented and the Administration is getting some blow back, he wants to say, well, it’s all Congress’s fault. They are the ones who created the law and blah-blah blah, which is not true. He changed the policy. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced it and the Department of Homeland Security has implemented it. This comes right out of the Trump administration. And now other Republicans are upset in Congress, those who are getting blow back from their home districts or Senators from their home states. But at the same time they put themselves into this situation because they have stuck with Donald Trump because of some things on his agenda are shared interests that they have, that they want to see passed. But now it’s like they are holding these children hostage in order to get Donald Trump’s wall…
MELBER: Let me ask you about that Clarence. You are hitting that point. You used the word hostage. And this is such a key point because there are always federal policies that have what is sometimes inartfully referred to as collateral damage.
PAGE: Right.
MELBER: What we don’t usually see to your and Enrique’s point, and I would think that the Congresswoman was alluding to this as well, we don’t usually see that the claimant that the collateral damage, especially to children is itself a goal, a “deterrent.” Take a listen to the Administration struggling with that very issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BITZER: Are Department of Homeland Security Personnel going to separate the children from their moms and dad?
JOHN KELLY: Yes, I am considering in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network, I am considering exactly that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you intending to send a message?
KIRSTJEN NIELSEN: I find that offensive. No. Because why would I ever create a policy that purposely does that?
JEFF SESSIONS: Hopefully people will get the message and come through the border at the port of entry and not break across the border unlawfully.
HALLIE JACKSON: Is that policy meant to be a deterrent or not?
MARC SHORT: Hallie, I don’t think it’s so much meant to be a deterrent as it’s really just trying to enforce a law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Clarence, this goes to the moral heart of this. Is this hurting children by accident somehow “unavoidably” or is it the deterrent goal? You see there on tape, people like John Kelly and others admitting it’s a goal.
PAGE: No one will admit to hurting children on purpose. The fact that people want to dodge, the reasoning behind the passage of these laws of which was to try to have a deterrent to people wanting to come across the border. Again, there’s a certain hypocrisy to wanting to dodge responsibility for a law which is admittedly flawed. We are talking about our immigration system does need reform. It has for a decade that but it’s been a mess in Congress because of gridlock. And part of it’s because of the kind of wild accusations and the wild baseless statements that have been made about how we need to have closed borders. We can’t have open borders. It’s not a question of just having wide open borders versus having nobody come in at all. We are talking about having a reasoned and orderly process and system set up. And we can’t do that as long as everybody is just yelling at each other.
MELBER: Congresswoman?
CHU: Yes, I think that we need to make sure that we have comprehensive immigration reform that has been stuck and stymied because of Republicans’ objections to it, but the children should not be a bargaining chip in this process. And that exact, is exactly what is going on right now. They are using…being used as a bargaining chip for $25 billion worth of funding that Donald Trump wants for the border wall. These are horrendous situations where the lives of these children will be affected forever just because of money that Donald Trump wants for that border wall. And that is not right.
MELBER: We have gone a quarter of the hour. Enrique, with the brief time we have left, what are the, what’s the key fact you want people to know about the truth on the ground?
MORONES: The fact these people that are coming in, that they have no line to get into. The people that are desperate, that are crossing the border. And those that do have a line apply for asylum and Trump calls them animals and MS-13. There’s a lot of lies out there. These are human beings. We should be treating people with dignity and respect. We need humane immigration reform. It wasn’t the Democrats’ fault. It’s one person`s fault. It’s Donald Trump. And like I said, he is pure evil and we need people to see this.
