Neil Cavuto’s questions yesterday, along with Bill O’Reilly’s later comments, about President Obama’s immigration policy change suggest that Fox News (along with Mitt Romney) does not plan to make a big controversy over it. But that didn’t mean that the GOP “fair and balanced” network wouldn’t make accommodation for those who are more opposed. So to start yesterday’s Your World, Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) came on to slam the decision and fear monger that the results will be some kind of “big run” for the border.
Brewer said, “I believe that it is certainly a preemptive attack, if you will, on (Arizona’s) Senate bill 1070 (currently under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court)... I keep wanting him (Obama) to address the issue of securing our borders.” She called it “backdoor amnesty.”
Cavuto asked, “What do you think of the fact that these are the children of illegal immigrants who’ve done nothing wrong themselves, and that they’ve been sort of caught up in this fury?”
Brewer called it a “difficult situation.” But, she said, “We need to get our borders secure and then we can deal with all those other issues but up until that time.. “ Her voice trailed off. “America, the United States, has been the most favorable place to immigrate to around the world... But we need legal immigration… doing backdoor amnesty for almost 800,000 people, almost a million more people, when our economy is down, …and now we’re going to give documentation, work permits, to almost a million more people… Is that fair to the legal citizens of our country?”
Cavuto asked, “Do you think what the White House is saying, is it fair to these children of illegals to be victimized, to hide in the shadows. After all, it’s 800,000, it’s not the 20 some-odd million illegals who are reportedly already here… that this is really fine tuning it to really clear cases… The only ones eligible for this would be those who have no criminal record whatsoever? …So this is a very fine-tuned approach. You don’t buy that?”
In a word, no. “I believe in the rule of law,” she said. “I imagine more people will be making a big run for the border.” She also sneered that more people will “qualify for Obama health care” when her state “already spends 1.7 billion dollars a year on illegal immigration.”
Cavuto again was more moderate. “I want to know where we go with this… If this path isn’t the way, Governor, what path is?”
”This might be the path down the road but tt’s not the path at this time,” Brewer said. “Our mission right now is to get control of our borders… and then we can we can all come together and we ought to be able to come up and find a solution.”
When asked if she’d fight the measure, Brewer said she didn’t know. But that didn’t stop her from a little more inflammatory fear mongering. “Are the lawful American citizens of America, of the United States, are they gonna sit back and say that the rule of law is no longer important? And if he’s allowed to do this under the guise of Homeland Security rules and policies, what more can he do to us? … I mean, they can do anything!”
In fact, the border is more fortified than ever under Obama. Seizures of drugs and weapons are up, and deportations are up, including for criminals. But while Cavuto’s questions were more supportive of Obama’s policy change, he never corrected Brewer’s falsehoods.