On CNN’s New Day Tuesday morning, host Chris Cuomo continued to perform the usual duties of the liberal media, acting as a PR firm for the Democrats and the group of about 800,000 illegal immigrants known as “Dreamers.”
While interviewing Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Cuomo said that “Obama had to do that executive action”, referring to President Obama’s 2012 executive order to shield the roughly 800,000 illegal immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation. Check out the transcript:
CHRIS CUOMO: And also talking about the previous administration, be fair. Obama had to do that executive action because it’s the only thing he could get done. You guys would do nothing and this was the only protection those people could get. So that’s where we were. The question is where we get to. Nancy Pelosi says yes, pathway to citizenship, that’s a good thing. Security fine. Even if he wants to say it’s a wall, we’ll do what the border security people say even though it’s $25 billion, we’ll do it. But these other things, Mario, these other things, stopping the lottery, stopping family unification, she calls this making America white again.
REP. MARIO DIAZ-BALART: You, know, Chris, it’s ironic that Mrs. Pelosi is being critical. Look, let’s get to the facts. You mentioned some of the facts but I want to correct you in one little thing here. I was part of the group that was kept quiet and confidential starting in 2009 when President Obama said that in 100 days he would present an immigration reform bill. There was a bipartisan reform bill in the House, the Democrats had 60 votes in the Senate, huge majorities in the House, and the President was Obama and said he was going to do that. Why did it not get filed, Chris? Why did it not get filed? Because President Obama and Nancy Pelosi killed it. So it’s ironic that Nancy Pelosi when she had the opportunity and President Obama, when they had the opportunity, after having told the American people that they were going to do it in 100 days, not only didn’t do it, they killed a bipartisan effort that was taking place in the House. Now, that’s, those are the facts of what happened.
CUOMO: That’s not what Nancy Pelosi says but go ahead.
DIAZ-BALART: Well, I know that but she was speaker when there was a bipartisan bill and that has been – the press has reported on that, when she had the majority there were 60 votes in the Senate and they had promised to do it and she is the one who did not allow--
CUOMO: Bipartisan bills can mean lots of different things. You had a bipartisan bill on immigration reform with Durbin and Graham. What happened when they brought it to the President. Just because it’s bipartisan doesn’t mean it’s something that’s going to get passed. Please continue.
DIAZ-BALART: That’s exactly right. You’re absolutely right. But for Nancy Pelosi out of all people who was the one who killed a true bipartisan bill, we’re talking about 20 members of the House, this has now obviously been made public after all those years. She killed it. Now she had the right to kill it because she was speaker.
CUOMO: So that means she can’t like that you want to get rid of lottery visas and that you don’t want to allow family unification? She doesn’t have a right to say she doesn’t like those?
DIAZ-BALART: Here’s what this administration is saying. This administration is saying they are willing to legalize, even with citizenship, all of those individuals, who were brought here of no fault of their own. That is obviously something that is very positive. What they want to do, however, as part of that, is to make sure we have a situation where we don’t have another two million in six months or six years.
CUOMO: Understood.
Cuomo should remember that President Obama told immigration activists over and over again that he did not have the authority to unilaterally change immigration law. Throughout the exchange, Diaz-Balart reminded Cuomo that President Obama and the Democrats did have the opportunity to push through “comprehensive immigration reform” during his first two years in office, when the Democrats enjoyed a filibuster-proof supermajority in the Senate and a large majority in the House. As everyone knows, the Obama Administration put immigration reform on the back burner during his first two years in office, instead electing to push through the socialized health care package known as ObamaCare.
As he faced re-election in 2012, President Obama decided it would be politically expedient to give an executive amnesty. President Trump announced in September via an executive order of his own that he would discontinue the executive order known as “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”, or DACA, on March 5, giving Congress six months to decide whether or not it wants to codify DACA into law. The White House put forward a plan that would give amnesty to 1.8 million illegal immigrants, more than double the number of illegal immigrants protected by DACA, in exchange for $25 billion for a border wall and an end to chain migration.
As Cuomo eagerly pointed out, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has spent the past couple of days whining about that bill, calling it a plan to “make America white again.”
As the 2018 midterms approach, the Democrats will almost certainly make the “Dreamer” issue a central part of their campaign platform. Expect Chris Cuomo, CNN and the rest of the liberal media to continue carrying water for the left as Election Day gets closer.
