On Thursday's New Day, during her latest voter panel discussion, CNN host Alisyn Camerota misleadingly hinted that immigrants like members of the current caravan are not actually breaking the law by crossing the border without permission as long as they request asylum after they are apprehended.
In a pre-recorded discussion aired at 7:38 a.m. Eastern, as a Republican member of the panel complained about thousands of people coming into the U.S. through Mexico -- referring to the caravan from Central America -- and the amount of money it would cost taxpayers to take care of them, Camerota followed up: "So you're worried about immigration?"
New Jersey Republican voter Cindy Ruggiero indicated that she only had a problem with "illegal" immigration as she responded: "Only coming in the illegal way, not the legal way. Come in the legal way, and you are more than welcome."
Camerota deceptively shot back: "I mean, it is legal to seek asylum."
After being misinformed by CNN conflating legal asylum seekers with caravan members, many of whom will likely sneak across the border illegally, Ruggiero seemed to turn against the acceptance of asylum seekers generally as she responded: "Well, I hope Trump changes that."
Camerota followed up: "You don't want any asylum seekers?" leading Ruggiero to answer, "No."
Later in the show, during a discussion with CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman about President Donald Trump trying to campaign on the issue of illegal immigrants committing crime, Camerota displayed the latest example of claiming that illegal immigrants commit crime at a lower rate than U.S. citizens without mentioning that other studies contradict this assertion. Camerota introduced the segment: "President Trump's strategy of sowing fear and division to help the GOP continues with a stunning new example this morning. The President has posted a video on Twitter that demonizes immigrants in a new and shocking way."
The CNN co-host soon fretted: "And this video is so grotesque. ... He has found an illegal immigrant who murdered people, and there are examples of that. What all the research suggests -- the CATO Institute has obviously studied this for years and years -- is that actually, on any given day, any year, Americans are more likely to commit violent crimes than immigrants or even undocumented immigrants."
