After first rediscovering the border crisis Tuesday night, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC used their flagship Wednesday morning news shows to spin on behalf of President Biden and his administration, insisting they’re “bracing for” the surge, “taking this seriously,” or paint them as not responsible for the unfettered surge of illegal immigration.
ABC’s Good Morning America was the worst and, as they’ve been prone to do, play Biden sycophant. Co-host Robin Roberts’s tease sounded like it was penned by Biden stooge Andrew Bates:
Bracing at the border. The Biden administration sending 1,500 active duty military troops to the southern border, anticipating a surge in migrant crossings as soon as next week. And overnight, a new deal with Mexico. What it all means and what’s next?
Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos led off the segment, passing long how “Biden is sending 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border as a pandemic-era policy restricting immigration comes to an end.”
Perhaps the biggest Biden propagandist in broadcast network news, chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce trumpeted that “[t]he White House is braking [sic] for a sharp spike in migration to the U.S./Mexican border and bracing for the political firestorm that is likely to come”.
Adding that “they are trying to show they are getting ahead of this”, she forwarded the explanation that the troops won’t “be performing law enforcement functions.”
“This is just one of several steps the White House is announcing as they prepare for the end of Title 42 next week,” Bruce excitedly revealed. “And, overnight, the administration announcing this deal for Mexico to continue accepting migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua who are expelled from the border.”
She wrapped with even more propaganda:
Now, the President and this White House know this surge is coming. They know that they are likely going to face political attacks over this. And the bottom line, George, is they are trying to show that they are taking this seriously.
In the second half-hour, Stephanopoulos had an 11-second brief puffing about the 1,500 figure.
CBS Mornings was so in the tank for the administration that they lied for them. During the show’s “Eye Opener,” they had the gall to run this debunked, pants-on-fire claim from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre without pushback: “Illegal migration has gone down by more than 90 percent.”
Socialist co-host Tony Dokoupil and chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes had the full report. Dokoupil called the upcoming changes “a big shift…on the way in the U.S. government’s efforts to try to control illegal immigration”. To his credit, he even showed video of one such caravan (remember when the liberal media decried them as fake news).
Cordes passed along the troop news, but painted Biden as uninvolved with the surge merely an occurrence (versus one of his own making) (click “expand”):
CORDES: The first of these 1,500 troops are set to arrive at the border as soon as next Wednesday. And they’re not going to be there to apprehend migrants. They’ll play a supporting role for Border Patrol agents bracing for what could be a record-breaking number of migrants, all seeking asylum at once. U.S. troops are being rushed to the border to help deal with this: an increase in migrants that is expected to swell next Thursday when the pandemic-era rule known as Title 42 expires.
(….)
CORDES: Title 42 was put in place as COVID began to spread in March of 2020. The rule made it easier to expel migrants seeking asylum. Now, that it’s about to end —
HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX) [on FBN’s Mornings with Maria, 05/02/23]: You’re seeing it south of the border, caravans trying to move up. They know when Title 42 expires.
CORDES: — it’s already putting a strain on cities like El Paso, Texas, where hundreds of migrants are camping outside homeless shelters because there’s no room inside.
(….)
CORDES: Customs and Border Patrol officials say they’re preparing for as many as 10,000 migrants to cross the southern border every day. That’s nearly double the daily average from March. For the next 90 days, 1,500 U.S. troops will temporarily supplement the 2,500 National Guard troops that are already on the border. They’re not authorized to serve as law enforcement, but they can provide logistical support like transportation and narcotics detection.
But instead of blaming the administration for encouraging illegal immigration, she hit Congress for not “address[ing] the problem.”
NBC’s Today took the detached approach to whether this was something worthy of blaming the Biden administration for.
Co-host Savannah Guthrie teased: “Border patrol. President Biden deploying 1,500 active duty U.S. troops to the southern border. A mayor in Texas now declaring a state of emergency ahead of what could be a record surge in migrant crossings this month. We’re there, live.”
That sounds terrible! You have to wonder if anyone has encouraged people to flood the border.
At any rate, co-host Hoda Kotb tossed to correspondent Gabe Gutierrez in El Paso, Texas with this proclamation: “[T]he Biden administration preparing to send an additional 1,500 troops to the southern border. That decision as it braces for a potential surge in migrant crossings in the next coming days.”
Gutierrez actually included sound from the administration, one of the “migrant advocates,” and a Republican critic, but not before playing stenographer (click “expand”):
GUTIERREZ: El Paso has declared a state of emergency. So have two other Texas border cities. And, as you can see behind me, there are already migrants sleeping in the streets here. You can see them there, underneath those blankets and this extends for several city blocks. Hundreds of migrants and more are expected when that COVID border restriction known as Title 42 is lifted next week. After illegal border crossings hit a record high last year, this morning, the Biden administration is now preparing to send 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border for 90 days. That’s in addition to the 2,500 National Guard members already there. The Defense Department says the troops will help Customs and Border Protection officials with logistical support but —
BRIG. GEN. PATRICK RYDER: Military personnel will not directly participate in law enforcement activities.
GUTIERREZ: Here in El Paso, Texas, hundreds of migrants are already camping out in the streets with homeless shelters overflowing.
(….)
GUTIERREZ: Five months ago, we saw huge groups of migrants crossing the border here. [in December 2022] The conditions here are miserable. [Back now] But an even larger influx is expected to begin a week from tomorrow when the pandemic-era restriction known as Title 42 is lifted. It allowed the U.S. government to more easily expel asylum seekers because of COVID concerns. The policy has been used more than two and a half million times since it took effect in 2020. Now that the policy is ending, some border officials expect the daily flow of migrants to double.
Wednesday’s state-run media effort to paint Biden as wholly in charge at the border was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Colgate (on ABC), Jeep (on CBS), and Neutrogena (on NBC). Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcripts from May 3, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).