On Sunday's MSNBC Live, fill-in host Gigi Stone Woods seemed to suggest that President Donald Trump should not hold a ceremony to honor ICE agents until after illegal immigrant children have been returned to their parents, and declared that children are being used as "political pawns."
At 3:43 p.m. Eastern, as correspondent Geoff Bennett updated viewers on the number of children separated from illegal immigrant parents between April and June who are still in government custody, Woods lamented: "It's really unfathomable that there was no plan in place from the get-go."
The MSNBC host looked visibly annoyed as she then turned to former George W. Bush administration official Lanhee Chen and posed: "Hundreds of these children, as we were talking about, they remain in government custody. The Trump administration is meanwhile honoring ICE agents. So what is your reaction to that?"
After Chen argued that Trump would want to hold a ceremony for ICE agents as part of promoting his immigration policies for the midterm elections, Woods complained: "So these children are being used as political pawns essentially."
Not mentioned was that many of the parents declined to take their children with them before they were deported from the country while a portion of them were not returned because their parents had criminal records.
On CBS This Morning, co-anchor Norah O'Donnell also seemed uncomfortable with the timing of the pro-ICE ceremony as she read a brief on the subject.
