On her 2:00 p.m. ET hour show on Monday, MSNBC anchor Katy Tur highlighted a controversial article in Sunday’s Boston Globe that compared enforcement of immigration law along the U.S. southern border to the Trail of Tears, a forced migration of Native Americans in the 1830s that caused many deaths.
Rather than challenge the liberal paper’s outrageous assertion, Tur hailed the headline: “‘Down on the border, there’s a new trail of tears,’ reads this headline in The Boston Globe. That piece tells the story of 6-year-old Wil, who was separated from his father six months ago when they arrived at the U.S. border from Honduras and tried to claim asylum.”
The segment began with the anchor warning viewers: “While you weren’t looking, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he will be taking his zero-tolerance immigration policy a step further today. This morning, Sessions told immigration judges in Washington that the Justice Department will redefine U.S. asylum laws.”
Instead of explaining what the new policy would be or providing any of the context of the change, Tur made an emotional declaration:
And according to new federal numbers released last week, 50,000 immigrants tried to come into the U.S. through the Mexico border in May, despite what the administration has framed as new deterrent measures. But numbers do not tell the whole story, they don’t tell the human story – journalists do.
The host then read an extended passage from the Globe article:
Quote, “Wil watched as his father was taken away in handcuffs, joining a long line of other chained men. That, according to his foster parents, was the last time he saw his dad. Now, every night before bed, Wil says his prayers and then kisses two printed out photos of his mom and dad that are taped on the wall by his bed. A few hours later, he’s likely to wander out of his bunk and stand outside the door of his foster parents’ room, crying and saying his stomach hurts.”
After citing similar stories from The New York Times (including a Nicholas Kristof column that labeled Trump administration immigration policy “evil”) Tur returned to the Globe piece: “A public defender told The Boston Globe, ‘several of her clients have told her their children were taken away from them by border patrol agents who said they were going to give them a bath. As the hours passed, it dawned on the mothers the kids were not coming back.’”
She woefully proclaimed: “Again, this is all happening right now, on our southern border, on U.S. soil. While we aren’t looking.”
During his reporting on Monday, NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams provided some important background information that Tur failed to mention: “Sessions said the asylum system is being abused and ‘was never meant to alleviate all problems, even serious problems, that people face every day all over the world.’ He said that the number of asylum claims jumped to 94,000 in 2016, compared with 5,000 in 2009, and that only about one-fifth of claims in the past five years have been found to be justified.”
Here is a full transcript of Tur’s June 11 report:
2:45 PM ET
KATY TUR: While you weren’t looking, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he will be taking his zero-tolerance immigration policy a step further today. This morning, Sessions told immigration judges in Washington that the Justice Department will redefine U.S. asylum laws.
JEFF SESSIONS: Asylum was never meant to alleviate all problems, even all serious problems, that people face every day all over the world.
TUR: And according to new federal numbers released last week, 50,000 immigrants tried to come into the U.S. through the Mexico border in May, despite what the administration has framed as new deterrent measures. But numbers do not tell the whole story, they don’t tell the human story – journalists do.
“Down on the border, there’s a new trail of tears,” reads this headline in The Boston Globe. That piece tells the story of 6-year-old Wil, who was separated from his father six months ago when they arrived at the U.S. border from Honduras and tried to claim asylum. Quote, “Wil watched as his father was taken away in handcuffs, joining a long line of other chained men. That, according to his foster parents, was the last time he saw his dad. Now, every night before bed, Wil says his prayers and then kisses two printed out photos of his mom and dad that are taped on the wall by his bed. A few hours later, he’s likely to wander out of his bunk and stand outside the door of his foster parents’ room, crying and saying his stomach hurts.”
In The New York Times, another story. This one of 5-year-old Jose. Quote, “When he landed in Michigan in late May, all the weary little boy carried was a trash bag stuffed with dirty clothes from his days’ long trek across Mexico and two small pieces of paper. One, a stick figure drawing of his family from Honduras. The other, a sketch of his father, who had been arrested and led away after they arrived at the U.S. border in El Paso. The first few nights he was with his foster family, he cried himself to sleep. ‘Then it turned into just moaning and moaning,’ said Janice, his foster mother. He recently slept through the night for the first time, though he still insists is on tucking the family pictures under his pillow.” Those stick figure drawings.
And it’s not just the children who are suffering. In an ACLU lawsuit against the government, a Honduran mother wrote, “The immigration officers made me walk out with my son to a government vehicle and place my son in a car seat in the vehicle. My son was crying as I put him in the seat. I did not even have a chance to comfort my son because the officers slammed the door shut as soon as he was in the seat.”
A public defender told The Boston Globe, “several of her clients have told her their children were taken away from them by border patrol agents who said they were going to give them a bath. As the hours passed, it dawned on the mothers the kids were not coming back.” Again, this is all happening right now, on our southern border, on U.S. soil. While we aren’t looking.
