On Monday, the broadcast networks ignored how a caravan of Honduran migrants fought with Guatemala police as they stormed their way into the country illegally. NBC Nightly News actually noted the existence of the caravan but intentionally failed to mention the violent broader crossing. Well, NBC doubled down on their downplaying on Tuesday as they again simply noted the caravan before touting President-elect Joe Biden’s pathway to citizenship for them.
Chief Washington and foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell reported on Monday: “Awaiting the President-elect, a caravan on the way to the U.S. from Honduras. Thousands of people hoping once Donald Trump is gone, they can cross the border. Don't come now says the Biden's team.”
Fast-forward to Tuesday and there was an insinuation of violence from correspondent Gabe Gutierrez, but he framed it as only coming from the police who tried to stop the mass of people from illegally entering Guatemala. “As police in Guatemala try to break up another migrant caravan heading to the U.S., the new Biden administration is proposing an eight-year pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants,” he said.
From there, Gutierrez boasted about Biden’s plans for so-called Dreamers and to offer legal status to illegal immigrants:
Jorge Bonita Perez is a recipient of DACA, which allows people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as young children to stay here. The proposed bill would allow so-called Dreamers to immediately apply for a green card. Other qualifying immigrants could get temporary status for five years and could apply for citizenship three years after that. Biden has also said he'd help reunite the hundreds of undocumented children still separated from their parents after crossing the border.
“Among migrants, anxiety has mounted since President Trump took office,” he mourned.
Gutierrez even recalled his coverage of a different caravan back in 2018. “We were there in 2018 as another caravan marched north,” he noted. “The Trump administration would later require migrants to remain in Mexico while they applied for asylum.”
(MRC Latino found the below soundbite of a migrant from this latest caravan telling a reporter they might have to resort to violence against the Guatemalan military.)
At the time, Gutierrez and Today co-host Savannah Guthrie praised how the migrants were defying President Trump’s demands for them to stop. “Breaking overnight, on the move, and on the rise. That massive caravan of migrants moving toward the U.S. grows even larger. The group, now numbering more than 7,000 and defying the President’s demands to turn back,” Guthrie boasted.
For his part, Gutierrez touted how the Mexican government couldn’t stop them. “The Mexican government had hoped to stop this group at its southern border. That did not happen,” he told Guthrie. “This morning, the migrant caravan is growing as it marches toward the U.S., swelling to more than 7,000 people.”
And as NBC proclaimed the migrants were just seeking asylum, they ignored how members in the “first wave” of the caravan were caught on camera scaling the border fence and illegally entering the U.S.
ABC and CBS still refused to cover the caravan at all.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
January 19, 2021
7:14:57 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: When Joe Biden takes his oath tomorrow, he will immediately face crises on multiple fronts. Among his first tests, a sweeping immigration overhaul and charting a course for his foreign policy. Let's get more on that beginning with Gabe Gutierrez.
[Cuts to video]
GABE GUTIERREZ: As police in Guatemala try to break up another migrant caravan heading to the U.S., the new Biden administration is proposing an eight-year pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
JORGE BONITAS PEREZ: Compared to the last four years, this is great. This is a miracle.
GUTIERREZ: Jorge Bonita Perez is a recipient of DACA, which allows people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as young children to stay here. The proposed bill would allow so-called Dreamers to immediately apply for a green card. Other qualifying immigrants could get temporary status for five years and could apply for citizenship three years after that. Biden has also said he'd help reunite the hundreds of undocumented children still separated from their parents after crossing the border.
Among migrants, anxiety has mounted since President Trump took office.
Here on the Guatemalan side of the border, patience is wearing thin.
We were there in 2018 as another caravan marched north. The Trump administration would later require migrants to remain in Mexico while they applied for asylum. Opponents of Biden's proposal say it amounts to amnesty.
DAN STEIN (Federation for American Immigration Reform): If you're going to reward people who broke the law in front of everybody else who respected it, it sends a bad signal.
[Cuts back to live]
GUTIERREZ: Immigration reform fizzled in Congress during the Bush and Obama administrations. But Democrats now say it's a priority. Gabe Gutierrez, NBC News, Washington.
