On Thursday evening two of the three evening news broadcast networks finally woke up and rediscovered the Biden border crisis that has been wreaking havoc on border towns in Texas and Arizona. So much so that the governors of the two states have been forced to bus migrants to Washington D.C. and New York City because they are unable to deal with the number of migrants.
On ABC's World News Tonight, correspondent Mireya Villarreal reported that the “U.S. nears a record-breaking two million migrant encounters in one year.” While reporting from the ground in Eagle Pass, Texas, Villarreal gave a play-by-play of what she witnessed:
On the ground in Eagle Pass, Texas, we watch as dozens of migrants cross into the U.S. Couple of things that are interesting to me is you can see we have some very young kids that crossed the river. They look like maybe 5 or 6 years old.
Villarreal reported that “while millions of migrants have been expelled using Title 42, the rule that lets agents kick out migrants without processing their asylum claims to stop the spread of COVID, many of those expelled simply turn around and come right back with little to no consequence.”
Over on CBS Evening News, anchor Norah O’Donnell opened her report by noting how “the number of migrants apprehended entering the U.S. could hit a record 2 million this year. And that is intensifying the debate over whether asylum seekers should be sent to places like New York City.”
Correspondent Manuel Bojorquez who was also on the ground in Eagle Pass, Texas, revealed “yet another group including children have just arrived on this side of the border.”
“Since April 7900 migrants have been taken by bus to New York City and Washington D.C. Despite the objections of the mayors there who call it a political stunt that is taxing their resources” Bojorquez added.
ABC & CBS’s sudden discovery of the Biden border crisis was made possible by Angi on ABC, and Nature’s Bounty on CBS. NBC’s omission of the Biden border crisis during Thursday night’s newscast was made possible by Liberty Mutual. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcript of each segment click “expand”:
ABC’s World News Tonight
August 18, 2022
6:37:12 p.m. EasternLINSEY DAVIS: Now to the crisis at the border, where a record number of migrants are attempting to cross from Mexico, escaping violence and poverty in their home countries. The governors of both Texas and Arizona are now bussing thousands of asylum seekers to New York City, as well as Washington D.C., sending the crisis north. ABC's Mireya Villarreal is in Eagle Pass, Texas.
MIREYA VILLARREAL: Tonight, on the southern border, as the U.S. nears a record-breaking two million migrant encounters in one year, we got a birds-eye view of the situation with Texas DPS. I can see a group of about four or five that have already made it across into the U.S. And a second group is now just crossing the Rio Grande. And it looks like they'll be intercepted by crews on the ground.
And on the ground in Eagle Pass, Texas, we watch as dozens of migrants cross into the U.S. Couple of things that are interesting to me is you can see we have some very young kids that crossed the river. They look like maybe 5 or 6 years old. We met this Venezuelan family, minutes after they entered the country.
He said it's about a better future for their families. But also right now there's just nothing in Venezuela for them. Little Estefania and Victor say they want to work and learn English. They tell me they hope to get on one of the buses that Governor Abbott is sending to New York.
MANUEL CASTRO (COMPTROLLER, NYC OFFICE OF IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS): Governor Abbott is using innocent human beings as a weapon against New York. That is wrong.
VILLARREAL: Texas Governor Greg Abbott telling our Byron Pitts --
TEXAS GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT: Before we began bussing illegal immigrants up to New York, it was just Texas and Arizona that bore the brunt of all of the chaos and all the problems that come with it.
VILLARREAL: And while millions of migrants have been expelled using Title 42, the rule that lets agents kick out migrants without processing their asylum claims to stop the spread of COVID, many of those expelled simply turn around and come right back with little to no consequence. So this group was picked up here instantly. They ran their information. Border patrol says they cannot, for whatever reason, request asylum, so they pulled them onto the bridge. Now they are walking straight over back into Mexico. So that is basically Title 42 in a nutshell. A vicious cycle, with no viable solution in sight.
CBS Evening News
August 18, 2022
6:36:25 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: We want to go now to the southern border where the number of migrants apprehended entering the U.S. could hit a record 2 million this year. And that is intensifying the debate over whether asylum seekers should be sent to places like New York City. Tonight CBS's Manuel Bojorquez takes us to a Texas border town.
MANUEL BOJORQUEZ: After being processed at the border some asylum seekers arrived just a few miles away at the Valverde border humanitarian coalition in Del Rio, Texas. A pit stop as they await a bus to their next destination like Ed Zohn Gutierrez from Venezuela who has it written down.
[...]
BOJORQUEZ: They may end up about 150 miles away at a facility in San Antonio where the state of Texas preps buses that will take some migrants to their choice of Washington D.C. or New York City. Busing migrants out of Texas is nothing new. But as the number of apprehensions along the border remain at record highs, it’s become the latest flash point in the debate over the nation's immigration policy.
[...]
BOJORQUEZ: That's despite about half of those detained at the border being sent back under the Trump-era pandemic policy known as Title 42. But the policy does not extend to those from crisis-stricken Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, a majority of the people we encountered along this section of the border who like Angie Cordero and her daughter keep venturing into an uncertain future.
And just behind me here in Eagle Pass, Texas, yet another group including children have just arrived on this side of the border. Since April 7900 migrants have been taken by bus to New York City and Washington D.C. Despite the objections of the mayors there who call it a political stunt that is taxing their resources.
