Everything right-wing media tried to blame for the Trump administration’s family separation policy
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Sarah Wasko / Media Matters
As President Donald Trump’s administration implemented a new “zero tolerance” prosecution policy at the border that led to unprecedented and systematic separation of immigrant families and locking kids in cages, right-wing media flailed around trying to blame the administration’s policy on anybody or anything except Trump.
The president’s media enablers blamed Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, “the law on the book,” Democrats in Congress, the media, the families themselves, and even “ the Illuminati of K Street ” for the Trump administration’s policy:
Blaming the families themselves
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Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt claimed that families “ are choosing to be separated ” by coming to the United States in the first place. Co-host Steve Doocy agreed, saying “the part that is troubling ... is the conscious decisions the parents are making” in trying to bring their children to America.
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Recently pardoned felon Dinesh D’Souza rhetorically questioned whether the “deported aliens” were “the ones choosing to separate their families.”
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Fox’s David Bossie said that if parents “don’t become criminals, they’re not separated” from their children.
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Fox’s Tomi Lahren said , “If you do not want to be separated, do not cross the border illegally. Follow our laws, follow the process. That's the best way to ensure that your family stays together.”
Blaming former presidents
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Radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed that family separation at the border "is an entirely manufactured crisis. It’s entirely manufactured. This has been going on for years. It happened during the Obama administration."
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American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp declared , “Obama and Trump have [the] same child protection policy.”
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Turning Point USA Communications Director Candace Owens falsely claimed that “these policies were in place” during the Obama administration.
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Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk falsely stated , “All of this happened for 8 years under Obama.”
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CNN commentator Ben Ferguson shared an image on Facebook that claimed that policies of separating children from “illegal parents” had been in effect since 2009.
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Breitbart claimed Trump’s “new ‘zero tolerance’ policy worked during the presidency of George W. Bush,” referring to an initiative that began in 2005 and has not worked .
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Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs stated that “previous presidents, including Bush and Obama, long ignored” family separation at the border until Trump “mov[ed] to stop” the practice.
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Fox’s Sean Hannity claimed , “This is nothing new and took place in previous administrations as well.”
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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said that family separation has been “standard procedure for decades” when you “pick up a group of a hundred people and you have no idea who the hell they are.”
Blaming a nonexistent law
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The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro fallaciously argued that Trump is simply “enforcing the law on the books.”
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Fox’s David Bossie claimed that Trump is just “following the law,” ignoring the reality that separation is a Trump administration policy , not the law.
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Fox host Sean Hannity also said that “it is the law.”
Blaming media, claiming they were using family separation as a distraction
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Fox’s Brian Kilmeade said that Trump’s media detractors “had to reach for something else” after Trump “put a lot of the skeptics to bed … and they found it with the so-called separation of kids and parents.”
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Rush Limbaugh claimed that media is inundating Americans with “manufactured crises” like family separation to distract from the Department of Justice inspector general report and strong economy.
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Fox’s Tucker Carlson, host of one of the most racist hours on television, said that reporting on family separation is just the media pursuing their goal “to change your country, forever.”
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NRATV commentator Dan Bongino claimed that media reporting on family separation is “propaganda, nothing more.”
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Hannity accused the media of harboring an “obsession” with “the so-called policy” of separating children from their parents in order to mislead Americans.
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Twitter troll Bill Mitchell predicted , “Every Sunday news show will be about Trump's #FakeNews ‘concentration camps’ and NOTHING about the OIG.”
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Sinclair Broadcast Group’s propagandist Boris Epshteyn devoted his “must-run” segment on family separation to attacking the media for their “politically driven” attempts “to make it seem as if those who are tough on immigration are somehow monsters.”
Blaming Democrats, claiming they were using family separation for political ends
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According to The Gateway Pundit , Democrats “would rather the problem persist so they can continue to wring their hands over another manufactured crisis to distract from the damning IG report and robust economy.”
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Fox Business’ Stuart Varney complained that Democrats “hijacked” a hearing on the IG report “within seconds of it beginning,” and “poured out [their] scorn for President Trump” instead.
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Fox’s Trish Regan commented that Democrats “would much rather cry on television like [Rep.] Elijah Cummings [D-MD] did” than stop family separation, because “it plays to any hatred they can gin up, as we go into ‘18, for Donald Trump.”
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National Review’ s David French wrote , “I have a feeling that for some partisans, it’s fascism to impose the policy and fascism to try to end it -- at least so long as the GOP is in charge of the process.”
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A murderer's row of right wing bamboozlers.
Not in your wildest wet dreams. The public at large primarily blames the irresponsible parents who take their children through much more dangerous circumstances than what they will experience at these detention centers. Primarily well off liberal women put their children in day care and with babysitters a significant portion of the time and rarely see them. No one bitches about that.
The Democrats failed to fix immigration policy when the had control of both Houses and the presidency. And now it appears that the Democrats are doubling down on being on record against a legislative fix. They encourage even more illegals to come here feigning that they are seeking asylum. I pretty sure the voters will not see things the way Democrats do on this issue, and will punish them just 4 months from now.
What a load of crap. Entering the country illegally is a misdemeanor and re-entering it is a felony. Trump decided he would prosecute both. Good. Although entering the country illegally is a crime, some illegal aliens have chosen to commit the crime with their children in tow. Others have decided to bring their children with them when they make (what’s usually) a bogus asylum claim. Trump is holding them all at the border, pending any applicable immigration hearing. Good. If he didn’t hold them, the illegal aliens would run off to hide out in democrat sanctuary cities to avoid deportation.
If illegal alien parents are put in jail, they can’t take their kids with them (which is the case in every other criminal arrest). If they’re put in detention, a federal court order states that the children cannot be kept in detention longer than 20 days, whether they’re with their parents or not. So on the 21st day, the children have to be taken out of detention. Period. Although Trump issued an executive order saying the kids can stay with the parents, that executive order is clearly contrary to the federal court order and the same people who sued before will sue again, saying that Trump has created a family prison.
If the illegal alien parents want to go free pending an immigration hearing, then the sanctuary states/cities who will provide haven for them should be required to post a $1 million dollar cash bond for each person (because they are obvious flight risks). If the illegal alien doesn’t show up for the hearing or doesn’t leave the country when ordered, then the entire amount of the bond should be forfeited to the federal government and used to support immigration enforcement. Alternatively, Democrats can raise the cash for the bond privately by mortgaging their homes, emptying their bank accounts, running up their credit cards etc but the money is still forfeit if the alien does not show up for hearing or does not leave the country as ordered. Democrats should either put up their own money or STFU.
The article is not really about the immigration issue. It is about right wing media providing cover for president* Trump by saying that everyone and everything is to blame for the separation crisis EXCEPT Trump, who ordered the policy.
Please address the seeded topic.
The usual suspects in right wing media provide constant cover for trump about many many mistakes he makes.