Fox's drama The Cleaning Lady is a propaganda vehicle for open borders advocates. Last night, it romanticized illegals and portrayed a cartel leader as someone who cares about his human cargo.
The series revolves around Thony (Elodie Yung), a crime scene "cleaner" for a fictional Mexican cartel.
On Tuesday's episode, "Agua, Fuego, Tierra, Viento," Thony drives through the desert border to rescue her sister-in-law Fiona (Martha Millan) and nephew Chris (Sean Lew).
Fiona and Chris are illegal immigrants from the Philippines. They were deported last season and are trying to sneak back into the country again with Thony's help.
Fiona and Chris got separated from their coyote and are lost in the desert. As they struggle to survive, angelic Fiona gives her son a speech about how the illegals who came before them in that same desert "risked everything to get a better life than what they had."
Fiona: Okay? Everything out here tells you a story of someone who had the guts to do this. Okay? Who risked everything to get a better life than what they had. People like Camila and Gizelle, they came from nothing -- nothing. The rain stopped. The crops dried out. They were left with nothing to eat. You think they came out here to die? They fight and they don't give up.
Thony sets out into the desert to find them after they don't arrive with the coyote. Jorge (Santiago Cabrera), a murderous cartel leader who facilitated the illegals' journey, helps Thony in her search. Is the audience supposed to believe a cartel thug actually cares about these people's lives?
The episode's villains are instead American vigilantes who hunt down and kill illegals in the desert. The vigilantes are white, of course, and their caricatured dialogue is cringeworthy. The female vigilante is named "Barbie" and her male companion is dumb and creepy. Like so many network shows, the bloodthirsty pair are a left-wing fantasy of illegal immigration opponents.
Male Vigilante: On your knees. On your knees! Both of you.
Jorge: Hey, we're just out here hunting, amigo, and I don't think you want any trouble.
Male Vigilante: That's funny. We're out here hunting, too, and it looks like we just got lucky. Alpha, we got ourselves some drug mules, maybe Coyotes.
Man: Roger that Delta. We just spotted a cargo truck that might have about a dozen aliens in it. [ Laughs ]
Male Vigilante: Copy that. Where are you from?
Thony: Las Vegas.
Male Vigilante: Oh, come on. Where are you really from?
Thony: Cambodia.
Male Vigilante: Whoo! Did you hear that, Barbie? All the way from Cam-bo-di-a. They're crawling in from every crevice. What do you all call that? La cucaracha? [ Laughs ]
Jorge: Yeah. Why don't you crawl back to whatever trailer park you came -- [ Yelps ] ♪ Put the gun down now! Put it down!
Male Vigilante: Come on. Shoot him, Barbie!
Jorge: Barbie, don't listen to this scumbag. Put the gun down! [ Gunshot ]
Network shows portray white Americans as so stupid and evil that you have to wonder why anyone from another country would want to live in the United States if this fiction were really true. Jorge and Thony leave the two Americans in the desert to die.
"Let the animals take care of them. They can see what it's like," Jorge says. Jorge is a murderous human trafficker who is angry at the Americans for being cruel.
Jorge and Thony find Fiona and Chris and reunite them with friends and family in the United States. Everyone is one big, happy family again.
Hollywood regularly pushes open borders narratives, but "Agua, Fuego, Tierra, Viento" was one of the most infuriating episodes I've seen on television. It dripped with hatred of the United States, glorified illegal activity and made a human trafficker look heroic.
The Cleaning Lady is currently on its third season despite low ratings. Let's hope this season will be the last of this awful show.
