With the Biden border crisis still raging out of control, President Biden was reportedly mulling over bringing back yet another Trump-era border policy: detaining family units. News of this policy percolating in the White House on Tuesday had ABC’s Good Morning America running defense trying to massage the message and assure the public it was “just one option that is on the table” and “no decisions have been made yet.”
“To the White House now where officials are considering reinstating a policy of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally,” warned co-host and former Clinton lackey George Stephanopoulos, who looked to senior White House correspondent Mary Bruce to defuse the situation. “And Mary, this may be under consideration but no decisions yet.”
In an attempt to reassure Stephanopoulos and viewers at home, Bruce noted that “[t]his is just one option that is on the table. No decisions have been made yet but we have learned that the Biden administration is considering detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally.”
Bruce made sure to pour out all the talking points she was receiving from the White House to soothe any potential backlash from the left, including how it would be supposedly different from former President Trump’s policy:
I am told any family detentions would be limited to just a small number of days to allow for swift processing. But this would be a reversal after President Biden ended the controversial policy shortly after he took office.
Now, sources have been quick to note that what is being considered here differs greatly from the policies of former President Trump who separated children from their families and sought to detain migrants indefinitely.
“Now, all of this comes, of course, as the Biden administration is trying to figure out how to handle the end of Title 42,” she tried to defend the White House’s reasoning. “That’s the public health order that was used during the pandemic to turn away millions of migrants at the border. It ends in early May.”
“And again, George, detaining migrant families is just one option that is now up for discussion,” she reiterated.
In 2021, ABC was one of the networks that remained silent as Biden restarted the Remain in Mexico policy, which ABC stoked outrage against when Trump enacted it. And in 2022, ABC ignored the Biden administration building sections of Trump’s border wall.
But late last month, ABC touted liberal outrage at the Biden White House for enacting a fairly reasonable policy that required migrants to apply for asylum at U.S. embassies in countries they passed through instead of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
ABC’s massaging of President Biden’s mullings was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Facebook via Meta and Chevy. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
March 7, 2023
8:079:49 a.m. EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: To the White House now where officials are considering reinstating a policy of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally. Senior White House correspondent Mary Bruce joins us now. And Mary, this may be under consideration but no decisions yet.
MARY BRUCE: Exactly, George. This is just one option that is on the table. No decisions have been made yet but we have learned that the Biden administration is considering detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally.
I am told any family detentions would be limited to just a small number of days to allow for swift processing. But this would be a reversal after President Biden ended the controversial policy shortly after he took office.
Now, sources have been quick to note that what is being considered here differs greatly from the policies of former President Trump who separated children from their families and sought to detain migrants indefinitely.
Now, all of this comes, of course, as the Biden administration is trying to figure out how to handle the end of Title 42. That’s the public health order that was used during the pandemic to turn away millions of migrants at the border. It ends in early May. And again, George, detaining migrant families is just one option that is now up for discussion.
STEPHANOPOULOS: This border situation is so fraught. Okay, Mary, thanks very much.
