On the one hand, good on CBS Mornings for noticing on Friday that one recent trend in the seemingly never-ending invasion of illegal immigrants across the U.S. southern border now includes tens of thousands from China. On the other hand, CBS showed little to no concern at this problem and relied on the usual trope of commiserating with the illegal aliens in the predictable narrative that they simply want a better life.
CBS’s also failed from a labeling standpoint, refusing to label China’s a certain c-word: communist.
INSANE: 'CBS Mornings' had a full story (over four-minutes long) cheering the explosion of Chinese illegal immigrants pouring across the U.S. southern border.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 17, 2023
Nothing about the country being communist and run by a regime with concentration camps. Instead, they said what the… pic.twitter.com/awr6mgUdZr
The tone was set from the tease by fill-in co-host Adriana Diaz about CBS “follow[ing] the journey of a Chinese migrant trying to travel to the U.S. over the Mexican border” to show “[w]hy more and more Chinese people are trying to enter this country illegally”.
As if to boost CBS as trustworthy on the issue, co-host Nate Burleson said the border’s “a topic that we have covered extensively on this show” before telling viewers about “the big increase in Chinese migrants” to the tune of “more than 24,000” arrests “over the past year through September.”
He added this is “more than 10 times higher than the previous year, and part of the overall rise in illegal border crossings. Going to a taped story from Tokyo-based foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer, Burleson promised an explanation on “why the Chinese migrants are willing to risk everything for a chance to make it to America.”
Palmer led off with video taken by one such wannabe illegal, Wei-Wei Wang, who’s “surviving on chocolate bars” and part of “a group of migrants struggle through the rain and mud of the Panamanian jungle”
Instead of raising national security concerns about citizens from perhaps America’s number one adversary invading our country or calling out China for being a communist regime that starves its people of basic freedoms, Palmer chalked up the “surge” to “people with their hopes crushed by China’s weak economy, repression, and corruption.”
Palmer upped the volume on the pity party (click “expand”):
PALMER: “The government wanted my family’s land,” Shan Yu Xiao explains and he has got video of what he says are thugs sent to beat them up. At the border, American volunteers help out the new arrivals. Samuel Schultz —
SAMUEL SCHULTZ: We’re used to seeing border crossers here, Central Americans, Mexicans, trying to avoid the Border Patrol. And here we have this giant mass of Asians coming in saying, "Please arrest me. Where’s — where’s the guy who’s going to arrest me?"
PALMER: The route is an open secret. First from China to Quito in Ecuador, which Chinese can enter without a visa, and then onward with detailed online advice. In this video, for example, a guide shows Quito Airport on Google Maps. If you land at night, he says don’t go outside. Next morning, catch the bus to Tulcan and carry on north. The online cartoons make it look easy, it is not.
Going to a Chinese immigration lawer, Xiao Xiang Wang bemoaned the “risky” journey that could lead to rape, robbery, or death, but also played into the left, libertarian, and corporate bit about boasting how “[s]eventy percent of the people” caught can stay and thus fulfill the need from “a lot of employers” for “low-paid employees.”
Palmer spotlighted “[t]he poor, rural town of Changla in China’s southeast” as known for exporting Chinese illegals to the U.S. before concluding with one final note of positive spin that, for those who aren’t part of the 30 percent deported, survived, and paid their way to America, “the biggest win of all is to have left China far behind.”
She even capped with one Chinese illegal singing “Hallelujah.” Eye-roll.
At the co-hosts table, Diaz called this phenomenon “shocking” while at the same time not given what former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Thursday’s show about China needing the Biden summit more than the U.S. did given the state of their economy.
To see the relevant transcript from November 17, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
November 17, 2023
7:18 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Ahead; Chinese Migrants Journey]
ADRIANA DIAZ: Still ahead, we follow the journey of a Chinese migrant trying to travel to the U.S. over the Mexican border. Why more and more Chinese people are trying to enter this country illegally.
(....)
7:33 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Chinese Migrant Spike; 24K+ Arrested at Border Through September]
NATE BURLESON: All right, let’s turn to a topic that we have covered extensively on this show in the wake of President Biden’s meeting with China’s president. We turn now to a story about the big increase in Chinese migrants coming through the U.S. border down in Mexico. Border Patrol agents arrested more than 24,000 Chinese people for crossing the U.S. southern border illegally over the past year through September. That’s more than 10 times higher than the previous year, and part of the overall rise in illegal border crossings that has made headlines. Elizabeth Palmer shows us why the Chinese migrants are willing to risk everything for a chance to make it to America.
ELIZABETH PALMER: A group of migrants struggle through the rain and mud of the Panamanian jungle toward the U.S. border. Wei-Wei Wang is one of them. ‘I’m surviving on chocolate bars,” he says, “And running out of drinking water.” He videoed the whole grueling trek undertaken by people from all over the world, including recently a record number from China. Since January, Border officials have processed more than 10 times as many Chinese migrants as last year. A surge of people with their hopes crushed by China’s weak economy, repression, and corruption. “The government wanted my family’s land,” Shan Yu Xiao explains and he has got video of what he says are thugs sent to beat them up. At the border, American volunteers help out the new arrivals. Samuel Schultz —
SAMUEL SCHULTZ: We’re used to seeing border crossers here, Central Americans, Mexicans, trying to avoid the Border Patrol. And here we have this giant mass of Asians coming in saying, "Please arrest me. Where’s — where’s the guy who’s going to arrest me?"
PALMER: The route is an open secret. First from China to Quito in Ecuador, which Chinese can enter without a visa, and then onward with detailed online advice. In this video, for example, a guide shows Quito Airport on Google Maps. If you land at night, he says don’t go outside. Next morning, catch the bus to Tulcan and carry on north. The online cartoons make it look easy, it is not.
XIAO XIANG WANG: It is very, very dangerous.
PALMER: Immigration lawyer, Xiao Xiang Wang represents Chinese migrants in the U.S.
XIAO XIANG WANG: They could be killed, or they could be raped or they could be robbed. It is really, really risky. I keep warning people, don’t come this way.
PALMER: The poor rural town of Changla in China’s southeast is famous for the number of migrants who have left from here for America, but for most, the price, more than $5,000.00 is just too high. One local woman who scrapes by selling secondhand textiles told us — “My brother and his family left years ago. Of course, I want to go, too, but wishing won’t do it. I need cash.” On the U.S. border, more and more have found the cash to gamble on a new life, even though attorney Wang says about 30 percent will be deported. But —
WANG: Seventy percent of the people would be allowed to settle down in the U.S. In the meantime, the U.S. economy is growing very fast and a lot of employers need low-paid employees. So that’s kind of a win-win situation.
PALMER: — and the biggest win of all is to have left China far behind.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHINESE MAN: Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
PALMER: For CBS Mornings, I’m Elizabeth Palmer in Tokyo.
DIAZ: It is shocking how far they’ve come and you know, Mark Esper was here yesterday, the secretary — former secretary of Defense talking about how China’s weak economy, high youth unemployment, that’s what’s driving a lot of these people here.
TONY DOKOUPIL: It’s a huge number, 24,000. Those are the ones that turned themselves in or were captured and you wonder how many were not, and that’s only one part of the border situation. You’ve got Congress working on the Santos question and you wonder could they pay some attention to what’s going on down there? We need a lot more of everything, right? There’s more enforcement. There’s more judges needed. There’s more legal pathways needed -- all of it. It’s a mess and this is while our mind is elsewhere.
BURLESON: You’re right about that, Tony.
DIAZ: People are coming from farther and farther.
