The Sunday after President Trump met with and aided the victims of storm-ravaged Texas, ABC’s Martha Raddatz exploited the natural disaster to lobby for him to keep the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). “The experience of Harvey has been a profound moment in a tumultuous year,” she righteously opined during This Week. “Showing the best of America, but also threatening to expose the cost of the rancor and division that has infected our political life.”
Before Raddatz began pushing for DACA, she began her segment by highlighting the recovery efforts and shadowed a local police chief has he aided a shelter. “But the chief's work to help evacuees may be complicated by a new challenge. President Trump set to announce his decision this week on whether to end the DACA program,” she bemoaned.
“Houston has one of the highest populations of so-called ‘Dreamers’ in the country,” Raddatz noted. “We met one of them. 15-year-old Jasmine Medrano. As her family returned to their flooded out Houston home, which they just recently paid off.”
In a sit-down interview with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Raddatz pressured him on the Medrano’s situation. “She said she doesn't know what she's more nervous about the flood or being deported. When should she stop being nervous,” she asked.
Governor Abbott told Raddatz that it was hard to tell what would happen right now but it mostly depended on what Congress and the President would do. He explained that the goal was “to make sure we keep America that shining city on the hill that people aspire to.” But Raddatz twisted Abbott’s words, asking if what he meant was: “So it's not with someone like her [the 15-year-old girl] here?”
“There will be ways in which America needs to continue to attract immigration through the legal system,” Abbott said, dismissing Raddatz’s wild assertion.
As Raddatz was wrapping up her report, she acted even more righteous in her suggestions about America. “And in the uncertainty about Houston's future and the hard questions facing this country,” she stated as people began to sing ‘Halleluiah’ in the background. “Will the spirit that got this city through the crisis last in the aftermath? Was Harvey a genuine watershed moment or will the underlying tensions tearing America apart rise again as the waters recede?”
Indeed, a very bleak outlook for the spirit of America from Raddatz and ABC while trying to exploit a tragic situation for a political end.
Transcript Below:
ABC
This Week
September 3, 2017
9:33:57 AM Eastern(…)
MARTHA RADDATZ: But the chief's work to help evacuees may be complicated by a new challenge. President Trump set to announce his decision this week on whether to end the DACA program, which allows undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children to stay under work permits.
ART ACEVEDO: So many homes have been damaged and some beyond repair in our state. And then you add on top of that the issues with the immigration debate and all the ugliness of that. I was mentioning to somebody yesterday, a state official that was pushing this anti-immigration ugly narrative. I asked him, now what are you going to tell the American people? When we have scared away so many hard-working people?
RADDATZ: Houston has one of the highest populations of so-called “Dreamers” in the country. We met one of them. 15-year-old Jasmine Medrano. As her family returned to their flooded out Houston home, which they just recently paid off.
JASMINE MEDRANO: It's a lot of work. All the -- our house is just crumbling down like that. Sad.
RADDATZ: Her family came to the U.S. when she was 5. She just applied for DACA status. Now the stress of both Harvey and the President's looming decision is taking its toll on her dream of becoming a surgeon.
MADRANO: My biggest fear is for us to get deported. For my family, all the hard work that they have done. To just be thrown away. And go back to how we were. And for me, to not be able to study. Not be able to -- work. It's a lot. And I still have to worry about going back to school. So it's kind of stressful.
RADDATZ: I asked Governor Abbott about Jasmine. She said she doesn't know what she's more nervous about the flood or being deported. When should she stop being nervous?
GREG ABBOTT: Well, that obviously would depend on so many factors that are hard to predict right now. One would be: What is what the President would do. Another one would be: What congress would do. So Martha, until Congress, until the United States, truly reforms our immigration system with standards that everybody knows and understands, that are enforced and applied, we will continue to deal with these very challenging circumstances.
RADDATZ: So what would you say to that 15-year-old?
ABBOTT: The best place to get into is the United States of America. And we need to make sure we keep America that shining city on the hill that people aspire to.
RADDATZ: So it's not with someone like her here?
ABBOTT: It's going be a standard that ensures that America will be the place that people aspire to. And there will be ways if congress reforms the immigration system, there will be ways in which America needs to continue to attract immigration through the legal system.
RADDATZ: The experience of Harvey has been a profound moment in a tumultuous year. Showing the best of America, but also threatening to expose the cost of the rancor and division that has infected our political life. You can see that in the faces of families like the Medranos, their uneasy existence in America evermore tenuous. And in the uncertainty about Houston's future and the hard questions facing this country. [Said over people singing Hallelujah] Will the spirit that got this city through the crisis last in the aftermath? Was Harvey a genuine watershed moment or will the underlying tensions tearing America apart rise again as the waters recede?
