On Tuesday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, regular panel members invited a liberal activist to bash the Trump administration over the treatment of illegal immigrants at the border. The group was even true to form as an MSNBC panel by excluding any questions or commentary from a right-leaning perspective in spite of having one contributor who actually had a conservative history prior to joining the liberal news network.
At 8:51 a.m. Eastern, fill-in host Willie Geist began by complaining about the issue being politicized as he invited Sister Norma Pimentel of Catholic Charities Rio Grand Valley to discuss what she had seen in working with illegal immigrants in Texas, leading her to complain that the families who were separated are "victims" of a "criminal setup."
MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle then brought up reports of children being awakened at night and bused to a different detention facility because the detention centers are running out of space, and invited her to bash the U.S. as he posed: "What do you think about your country?"
Then, MSNBC contributor Rick Tyler -- former communications director for Republican Senator Ted Cruz -- brought up the issue of whether illegal immigrants contribute to crime but offered no pushback when she brushed off the significance of illegal immigration on crime. Tyler:
The mantra coming out of the White House, they would have us believe that the immigration problem is related to crime -- is related to MS-13 as a refrain -- but you work with these people every day. Why do they come? Who are they?
But even CNN recently admitted that the increase in unaccompanied children from Central America in the last several years has given a boost to the MS-13 gang as they have put pressure on vulnerable teens to recruit them.
Tyler even omitted the word "illegal" when he followed up by asking about the Christian perspective on "immigration."
Geist soon brought up the issue of there being a "conflation" between legal asylum seekers and those who cross the border illegally, but he did not clarify what context he was referring to.
NewsBusters has documented that MSNBC has a history of wrongly suggesting that it is not illegal to cross the border without permission if one intends to seek asylum, and of failing to inform viewers that asylum seekers who do the legal thing and travel to ports of entry have normally not been subject to being separated from their children.
Also not mentioned is that there have been documented cases of children being illegally trafficked into the country and abused or used as slaves, illustrating the need to be careful to avoid handing children over to adults who end up mistreating them.
