After having been out to lunch this week on the latest surges of illegal immigrants across the U.S./Mexico border, NBC finally arrived on scene with Thursday’s Today, but only gave 73 seconds to the issue and was delivered entirely from Rockefeller Plaza and the White House.
And, though ABC and CBS kept up their coverage, they insisted President Biden was in charge, touting him “taking action” with “a major move” supposedly to control the flood as though his administration had nothing to do with the invasions of unregulated illegal immigration.
“And, meanwhile, big story, especially here in New York, the Biden administration has decided to implement some new rules for hundreds of thousands of migrants. We've seen these record border crossings,” co-host Savannah Guthrie began.
Speaking to newly-minted senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez, she noted people have been pouring into “northeastern cities, getting a lot of complaints from mayors like Mayor Adams here in New York to the White House, so walk us through what’s happened here.”
Instead of dispatching him to the border as he had been in the past (or having another NBC colleague go), Gutierrez relayed from the North Lawn that there were “new developments at the border” with Eagle Pass, Texas “declar[ing] a state of emergency after more than 4,000 migrants arrived in the last two days, overwhelming the city of nearly 30,000 people.”
“It's part of a recent rise in overall border crossings that hasn't been seen in months...[T]he Biden administration announcing overnight new rules allowing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants who arrived in the country before July 31 to live and work here legally for 18 months and temporarily protect them from deportation,” he explained.
He closed by framing it in New York-centric terms, hoping the Biden tac-sized-move for a cruise-ship-sized hole would allow illegals “to be able to work and move them off of social services, which has also been overwhelmed, but these latest developments are sure to be cited by Republicans who argue that the President's border policies are not working.”
No kidding, Sherlock.
ABC’s Good Morning America sounded like state-run TV with co-host Michael Strahan boasting in an opening tease that there was “[n]ew action on the border crisis” from the regime “sending a surge of active duty Defense Department personnel to the region.”
Co-host and former Clinton flack George Stephanopoulos also used the word “crisis” but also touted the Biden move as a way “to ease the crisis caused by thousands of people entering the country everyday.”
Correspondent Matt Rivers cited how border towns are struggling with “local officials very frustrated,” but distanced the liberal administration’s porous policies from people believing they could reach the United States and be able to stay without fear of deportation.
Rivers refused to attribute blame to Biden for the surges while senior White House correspondent Selina Wang fretted “this has been a tough issue” for Biden (click “expand”):
RIVERS: Overnight, the Biden administration saying it’s taking new action to handle situations like this. Thousands of migrants arriving daily at the U.S. southwest border. This group just a small part of the roughly 7,000 people local officials say have crossed into the small town of Eagle Pass, Texas. And now, the administration says it’s sending a surge of active duty Department of Defense personnel to the border, including 800 active duty members in addition to the 2,500 already deployed to assist Customs and Border Protection. This as the number of migrant crossings has spiked in recent weeks....With so many migrants arriving to the border, NGOs and local resources are strained, forcing Border Patrol to release thousand of migrants on to the streets here in San Diego County....Every migrant we spoke to here looking for a better life, but they are making life harder for local officials. Overburdened and underfunded, many local border communities on the front lines of immigration, a federal issue.
(....)
RIVERS: Now, as for why we’re seeing this spike in migrant crossings now, it’s really a mixture of the easing of peak summer temperatures, an increase in human smuggling activity, and the simple fact that there are already a record number of migrants already on the move in this part of the world. George?
(....)
WANG: [T]he White House has been saying that President Biden is doing everything he can to address the migrant crisis, but this has been a tough issue. Even his fellow Democrats have been criticizing him for not doing more. And this announcement is part of Biden’s broader efforts to create these legal path ways for migrants to stay and work here. And his administration is blaming Congress for the lack of action[.]
After Rivers had a condensed report in the second hour, Strahan played Captain Obvious: “Yeah, a lot of help needed there at the border.”
CBS Mornings played its part as well. Co-host and Democratic donor Gayle King hyped in the “Eye Opener” of the “big move by the White House granting temporary legal status to half a million Venezuelan migrants as border crossings increase.”
She sang the same tune in the actual news segment, including a hilariously out-of-touch remark to correspondent Manuel Bojorquez that the 1,800 daily crossings “sounds like a lot people” (click “expand”):
KING: But we’re going to begin with immigration and a major move by the Biden administration. The President is granting temporary legal status to nearly 500,000 Venezuelan migrants who are already in this country. Now, this could be life changing for those families looking to work and make money here legally. The move comes as the number of border crossings returns to near record levels. Federal officials closed the point of entry in Eagle Pass, Texas, just yesterday due to a glut of asylum requests. Manuel Bojorquez is in El Paso where officials are seeing more than 1,800 migrants a day. Manuel, that sounds like a lot of people. Good morning to you.
BOJORQUEZ: Good morning, Gayle. As you know, local leaders here in El Paso are veterans when it comes to providing food and shelter to those who have newly arrived. But, once again some of those organizers are telling me they are being pushed to the brink.
To see the relevant transcripts from September 21, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
