Fox News host Maria Bartiromo’s report from the United States-Mexico border became the backdrop for multiple dramatic illegal border crossings that were caught on camera even as she spoke with President Donald Trump.
In a special episode of “Sunday Morning Futures,” several people, including children, were seen crossing the border illegally as cameras rolled and Bartiromo spoke first with Border Patrol officers about the very real crisis, and later with Trump who reiterated the points he has contended for months about the immigration issue.
(Video: YouTube/Fox News)
The Fox News host was in the middle of speaking with one Border Patrol officer about the dried up Rio Grande River, which many migrants use as a crossing point to illegally enter the U.S., when she noticed people running.
“Who is this running right here?” Bartiromo asked.
“This a family group that’s just crossed,” the agent responded as the cameras followed the unfolding event from the border between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico, with officers asking questions of what appeared to be a family, and as Bartiromo spoke to one woman.
“What were your plans? Where were you going to go?” she asked, before being told by the woman, reportedly from Honduras, that they were planning to go to Oklahoma City and had heard that they would be allowed to stay in the U.S. if they could just get across the border.
“They basically walk until they see an agent and then they turn themselves in,” the Border Patrol Agent told Bartiromo as another group of people were seen a short time later crossing the border illegally.
“So they want to see you right now?” she asked.
“Definitely,” the agent replied. “They want to get processed, given the papers, then they go north and they have legal papers to be wherever they’re going to be at.”
Bartiromo tweeted a photo showing all of those who were apprehended just that morning, noting how many of the groups claimed to be “families.”
These people crossed the border this morning & were apprehended. Lots of kids, lots of “families” 114 people here then another two groups right behind them @SundayFutures @FoxNews 10am this am pic.twitter.com/nfLh5GkZBw
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) April 28, 2019
When Bartiromo returned to her live broadcast following the pre-recorded footage, she aired her recorded phone interview with the president, during which yet another group of people was apprehended for trying to cross the border into the U.S.
Trump told the Fox News host the surge in illegal border crossings has been spurred by a great U.S. economy.
“Everybody wants a piece of it and they’re willing to come up and take the risk and this tremendous danger,” he said by phone, noting the “combination of having a great economy and having the weakest immigration laws anywhere in the world by far”
“We have things nobody in their right mind would have. We’re trying to get rid of them, the Democrats won’t do it,” the president contended, noting that the end of separation of supposed families apprehended at the border has led to an increase of illegal crossings.
“The problem is you have 10 times more people coming up with their families. It’s like Disneyland now,” he said, explaining to Bartiromo why the immigration courts are a failure and why Democrats “need to get off their asses.”
“Where you are – where the wall ends – that’s part of the wall that we’re building.,” he told the Fox News host. “In other words, where the wall ends that’s the weak spot, it’s like water. They come through the weak spots.”
Matthew Albence, the Acting Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, hopes attention like that which Bartiromo brings to the issue will make the case that immigration officials have been making , like the president that “there’s an absolute crisis at the border.”
He explained to “Fox & Friends” on Monday how ICE is sending resources to the southern U.S. border, such as experts in human trafficking, document fraud and victim assistance aimed at thwarting efforts by smugglers taking advantage of migrants seeking to reach the U.S.
(Video: YouTube/Fox News)
He also spoke about the “loopholes” in the current system that allow traffickers and smugglers to manipulate U.S. laws as they repeatedly use children as pawns. He explained that ICE, like Customs and Border Patrol, have had to stretch their manpower and resources to deal with the “crush of bodies,” with agents being pulled away from their border enforcement job duties to handle emergency needs like getting diapers and supplies for the many illegal immigrant children – many unaccompanied – in their care.
Albence also dismissed calls by the left and many Democrats to abolish ICE saying that only ICE agents have the “specific expertise and training to enforce immigration laws in this country.”
“You can not have any serious discussion about border security if you’re talking about doing away with the interior enforcement component,” he said. “Individuals who want to come to this country illegally must know that if they do happen to get past the Border Patrol, there is an entity out there that is looking for them and will locate them, arrest them.”
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Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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