As Newshounds Ellen reported, Fox News didn't waste any time using an alleged Maryland rape to promote Donald Trump’s, anti-immigration talking point. And, just like a virus, Fox's anti-immigrant message spread throughout Fox’s programs. Not surprisingly, the AM propaganda show, Fox & Friends, kept the hate alive by suggesting that undocumented men are sexual predators!
Wednesday, Fox Friend, Steve Doocy and Canadian Islamophobe Mark Steyn used the recent alleged rape of a Maryland high school student, by undocumented students, for an attack on Obama’s immigration policy, Democrats, and those in Maryland who want to protect law-abiding immigrants. It just so happens Trump has also used the incident to attack sanctuary cities.
Echoing Trump, Doocy immediately began tying the crime to an anti-sanctuary cities message. He said, “many” people are “laying some of the blame” for the rape on the “disastrous sanctuary city policies that specifically direct law enforcement not to cooperate with ICE” - a misleading statement that suggests Rockville is a sanctuary city when it is NOT. In fact, it has “a policy of cooperating with federal authorities in any serious criminal case.”
Doocy continued to push the agitprop by claiming that Maryland is “trying to become a sanctuary state,” a reference to legislation, intended to protect immigrants, which is currently being considered in the Maryland House of Delegates. Doocy informed us that this legislation “frames what has happened in Rockville” - an absurd statement that frames the propaganda by attempting to link the proposed legislation with the alleged rape.
Steyn pompously used the opportunity to rant and rave about “the depravity of the political class,” willing to “offer up their own citizens, 14 year-old school girls and sacrifice them on the altar of diversity and virtue.” Steyn tried to link “poseur” Democrats (those who embrace diversity) with the alleged rape. He suggested that Democrats “fetishize” undocumented immigrants and stated that Rockville and Maryland should be ashamed of themselves.
Doocy continued the anti-diversity narrative by commenting that in some school districts, 19 foreign languages are used.
Doocy started the immigrants-as-sexual-predators narrative. “You’ve got adult men, in this case, in this country illegally, sitting in the same classroom with teenage girls.” (One of the accused is 18 - an age represented in high schools) Doocy added that parents need to “wonder who's sitting in the same classroom with my kid today.” He didn’t mention that the men were not in the same classes as the girl.
Steyn then yelled about a time a band he brought into the United States from Canada was detained “for longer, I would wager, than this illegal immigrant was detained on the southern border...” He screamed, “This is a corrupt, broken system of which lawful citizens and residents of this country are the victims.”
Never wasting an opportunity to bash Barack Obama, Doocy noted that the accused came into the country during Obama’s “era” when, according to Doocy, the attitude was “Eehhh, let .em go.” He followed this with a reference to how Trump has promised to “crack down” on immigration.
Steyn stated that while every country has rapists and murderers, “You don’t want to import additional people to do that.” He asserted that those who enter the country should “be of benefit to that country and that’s exactly the opposite or the immigration patterns in the U.S. right now.”
Doocy provided the icing for the propaganda cake: “It is a terrible situation, terrible story in Rockville” - a story made worse by its use as right wing, anti-immigrant propaganda on Fox News.
Check out Steyn’s rant from Fox & Friends, below, from March 22, 2017.
Correction: This post originally reported that this segment aired on March 23.
Something like 75% of convicted sex offenders are white males yet Fox News and Trump dog-whistle bigotry fear-mongers scary brown skin illegal immigrants are coming to rape their women and children.
None of this, of course, is brought up by Neil. But the lies don’t end there. Fox News which is always morally thumping their chests about States Rights is doing an about face here when they don’t get their way by shoving federal law down Maryland’s throat.
Fox News’ slam-dunk argument is Maryland is a criminal state not enforcing the law. But whatever happened to Republican upset over unfunded federal mandates? Because the issue here is Maryland bearing the expense of their law enforcement personnel doing ICE’s job for them.
Kind of betting FoxNoise’s coverage was pretty muted on that story.
That is such an excellent point. I hope you don’t mind if we use it in later posts.