Appearing as a guest on Friday's Jose Diaz-Balart Reports, MSNBC political analyst (and NPR host) Maria Hinojosa lied to the audience as she accused former President Donald Trump of lying about the millions of illegals flooding across the southern border.
After playing clips of President Trump campaigning, host Diaz-Balart turned to Hinojosa and posed: "When you hear this -- 'invasion' -- 'they're emptying their mental institutions' -- 'this is poisoning the blood' -- what do you see? And how does that contrast, Maria, to what you see on a daily basis and the people that we serve?"
Hinojosa began her dishonest response:
Right, so no surprise -- I will say former President Donald Trump is lying. He's lying. When was the last time he was on that border talking to people who would actually speak to him, right? So this notion of, like, what did he say -- that there's an invasion. Actually, no. That they are unchecked? Actually, if you go to 26 Federal Plaza overnight, you will see the lines of people standing out there in the cold overnight to register to be like, "We're here -- vet us. Hi, we're here." Anybody can go and speak to them. They're not afraid of this vetting -- they're presenting themselves in the freezing cold.
A bit later, she alluded to the film Nyad, and compared illegal immigrants to heroic figures from the movie: "Those actual heroes who were like, 'We'll chop -- climb through the jungles -- we'll sleep outside -- we'll starve -- we'll dodge the bullets' -- they're right there at 26 Federal Plaza. And instead, we have Donald Trump lying and saying that there are hordes and that they're bringing in. No es verdad."
It was not mentioned that a recent report by the House Homeland Security Committee found that there were 1.7 million documented cases in which Border Patrol agents observed illegal border crossings but were unable to apprehend the offenders.
By contrast, last November on Fox & Friends Saturday, Fox News contributor Tom Homan informed viewers of this critical information:
But what concerns me more are the 1.7 (million) known got-aways. That's what scares me more. Who are they? No one is going to tell me not a single one of them -- 1.7 million got-aways -- didn't come from a country that sponsors terror. We got to remember. Border Patrol has arrested people from 171 different countries. Many of these countries are sponsors of terror. They've arrest 569 known people off the terrorist watch list. So you've got to figure how many of the 1.7 million known got-aways came from a country that sponsors terror.
He also complained that President Joe Biden was more interested in using extra money to process more illegal aliens and allow them into the country rather than to try to stop them entering the country in the first place. He further argued that reinstating the "remain in Mexico" used by the Trump administration to prevent illegal border crossers from roaming the U.S. indefinitely while awaiting their asylum cases, thus deterring many from entering in the first place.
CNN weekend host Michael Smerconish similarly informed viewers of the border numbers last September (a rarity on CNN.)
Instead of correcting his guest, Diaz-Balart followed up by fretting about whether illegal aliens who have been in the country for decades might get relief soon.
Transcripts follow:
MSNBC's Jose Diaz-Balart Reports
January 26, 2024
11:54 a.m. Eastern
JOSE DIAZ-BALART: I want you to listen to some of what the former President has been saying about immigration -- about border, etc. -- on the campaign trail. Take a listen.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (dated January 22): I'll seal the border, and we'll shut down the invasion of our country. (editing jump) We have people pouring in our borders. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. Nobody knows where they're from -- unvetted, unchecked.
TRUMP (dated January 21): And I will instruct the heads of ICE and Border Patrol to begin the largest deportation program in American history because it's not sustainable. (editing jump) We had the safest border in the history of our country, and now we have the most unsafe border in the history of the world.
TRUMP (dated January 20): We're bringing them in from mental institutions, prisons. Terrorists are pouring into our country.
DIAZ-BALART: So, Susan, politically, is Trump holding the cards here?
(SUSAN DEL PERCIO, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST)
DIAZ-BALART: When you hear this -- "invasion" -- "they're emptying their mental institutions" -- "this is poisoning the blood" -- what do you see? And how does that contrast, Maria, to what you see on a daily basis and the people that we serve?
MARIA HINOJOSA, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Right, so no surprise -- I will say former President Donald Trump is lying. He's lying. When was the last time he was on that border talking to people who would actually speak to him, right? So this notion of, like, what did he say -- that there's an invasion. Actually, no. That they are unchecked? Actually, if you go to 26 Federal Plaza overnight, you will see the lines of people standing out there in the cold overnight to register to be like, "We're here -- vet us. Hi, we're here." Anybody can go and speak to them. They're not afraid of this vetting -- they're presenting themselves in the freezing cold.
And the other thing that we're not hearing, Jose -- and I know you're going to love this, right? Because I've been out talking with them. That's all you need to do is go and speak with them. And I said to one of the women whom I met, she was -- I said, "Do you feel like you're a victim here -- that you're taking -- that you're trying to take things away?" And she was like, "We are here -- we are getting things done. We don't even know about the protests. We are resolving -- estamos resolviendo -- tenemos cosas de hacer (we have things to do)."
So that -- I just watched the movie Nyad this morning -- by the way, I finished, and I'm like crying, you know, and we love this hero's story. ... And I'm just like, "So we love heroes in Hollywood." Those actual heroes who were like, "We'll chop -- climb through the jungles -- we'll sleep outside -- we'll starve -- we'll dodge the bullets" -- they're right there at 26 Federal Plaza. And instead, we have Donald Trump lying and saying that there are hordes and that they're bringing in. No es verdad. (It is not true.)
DIAZ-BALART: But there is the political side of this -- which unfortunately sometimes -- many times -- overshadows the fact that we're talking -- men, women, and children. The question is, how do -- how does this political semantic conversation which is often times ugly -- how do you move away from that and deal with the men, women and children? And also, Maria and Susan -- the issue of there are those that have come to this country by the millions asking for asylum saying, "Here I am -- where can I register?" But then there are also millions of people who have been here -- many of them for decades with U.S.-born children -- there are more than 11 million families that live -- people that live in mixed immigration status -- homes -- that have been here participating -- that are part of the fabric of American society, culture and economy -- and they also say, "Well, we're here, too, and we've been vetted." Is there any possibility of this being dealt with in a realistic, humanitarian way?
(...)
Fox & Friends Saturday
November 4, 2024
6:42 a.m. Eastern
PETE HEGSETH: A terror suspect is being held without bond after his arrest last month, but not before, you know, roaming freely throughout the United States for two weeks.
WILL CAIN: Authorities said the man entered the U.S. illegally on October 3rd, and, days after, he was released. Homeland Security revealed he was wanted in his home country for terrorist activities.
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY: This as a caravan of 7,000 migrants that was headed for the southern border is now stopped in Mexico, according to sources. Many are just too tired to keep walking. Well, here to react is Fox News contributor and former acting ICE director Tom Homan. Tom, and it's so scary to think that this terrorist was, you know, who knows, coordinating with a terror cell for two weeks before we actually caught him. What is going on? How come with the terror alert so high, the fire alarms aren't going off in the Biden administration at this moment?
TOM HOMAN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Look, first of all, this isn't the first time this has happened. This has happened before. And the reason it's happening is because the Border Patrol is under such pressure to process as quick as possible and release as quick as possible. This administration only cares about the optics of this crisis. If there's no overcrowding, then nothing to see here. So they're under intense pressure. That's why they keep sending more resources to the border -- not to enforce the law, not to secure the border, but to process quicker and to release quicker. And mistakes are going to be made.
But what concerns me more are the 1.7 (million) known got-aways. That's what scares me more. Who are they? No one is going to tell me not a single one of them -- 1.7 million got-aways -- didn't come from a country that sponsors terror. We got to remember. Border Patrol has arrested people from 171 different countries. Many of these countries are sponsors of terror. They've arrest 569 known people off the terrorist watch list. So you've got to figure how many of the 1.7 million known got-aways came from a country that sponsors terror.
CAIN: You know, Tom, to your point, take a look at this. This is the terror watch list, arrests at the southern border -- 169 in fiscal year 2023; 98 in 2022; 15 in 2021. You go back to the Trump years -- three, zero, six -- that's -- you know, I've had somebody say to me before, Tom, "Come on, there was no -- zero in 2019?" people have said, "Is that real?" And now we're looking at, you know, what is it, 120?
HOMAN: Well, it's more than that. You know what no one is talking about? The northern border. FY 2023, they arrest 434 -- excuse me -- 432 people on the terrorist watch list were arrested on the northern border -- almost twice as many as the southern border. Nobody is talking about that. People need to understand that the northern border -- the crossing jumped over 800 percent. They got very few Border Patrol assets up there, and they took 50 percent of them and moved them to the southern border. So the northern border is a huge vulnerability. But, you know (inaudible) ... "How do you know? How do you know?" After 9/11, we created all these databases -- the TSA no-fly list, the FBI screening database, the visa security program -- we stopped thousands of people from coming and getting a visa to come to the United States because during the vetting process, we found derogatory information.
However, if you're a terrorist today and you want to come harm the United States, you're going to take the route of least resistance. Why would you put yourself in a position to be vetted through all these programs. You simply get to Mexico, pay the cartels a little extra money, and be a got-away. That is what the scary thing is. This is the biggest -- I've said it a thousand times -- this is the biggest national security failure that I've seen in this country since 9/11, and it's self-inflicted.
HEGSETH: No doubt. Well, the Biden administration now says it's going to spend a million dollars on some border wall repairs. So you got to be feeling good about that?
HOMAN: This isn't -- I feel good about that, but people need to remember they might keep throwing money at this problem and pay countries more money to create opportunity zones in the country. Money doesn't fix this problem. It is a policy issue. All they got to do is brush off the Trump plans, reinstate "remain in Mexico" (policy). The Supreme Court already says it's legal. If they would reinstate the "remain in Mexico" program, they'd fix 80 percent of the problem. If they start up the third safe country agreements, they could solve this problem. There is a plan in place -- the Trump administration proved it -- illegal immigration at a 45-year low -- illegal immigration down 80 to 90 percent depending on what month you look at. There is a plan to fix it. We proved it. All they got to do is reinstate these plans and secure that border. But they don't -- they don't want to do it because this is by design.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: By design. Thank you for pointing out that this is not a money problem. The Republicans right now are still trying to attach border money to Ukraine money and pretending like -- and all it's going to do is you said, is just give more money for the Biden administration to process more illegals in our country. Tom, you've always been such a straight shooter on this issue. We really appreciate you joining us today.
