Trump administration plans to finally put an end to the ‘catch and release’ of family units (adults and minors) who cross the U.S. border together without authorization is being portrayed in the worst posible light by liberal media outlets, like Los Angeles-based Estrella TV.
Instead of recognizing that the U.S. government is entirely within its rights to detain such family units until their cases are resolved by either removal by deportation or a grant of asylum, media outlets like Estrella TV tell their viewers that the administration’s purpose is “to continue holding immigrants as if they were hostages.”
ADRIANA YAÑEZ, ANCHOR, ESTRELLA TV: Donald Trump is trying to manipulate the law at his convenience, to continue holding immigrants as if they were hostages. Rosa María Orbach informs us.
ROSA MARIA ORBACH, REPORTER, ESTRELLA TV: In any way possible, the Trump administration wants to continue detaining immigrant children as if they were criminals and they want them in detention centers for an indefinite period. Today this was confirmed through a proposal to Congress to eliminate the Flores agreement.
That is the way the liberal media characterizes the Trump administration’s plans to end the Clinton-era Flores settlement, which prevents the detention of minors beyond 20 days. Foreign nationals have increasingly taken advantage of this loophole, by bringing minors with them when they unlawfully enter the U.S., in the expectation that they will be detained only a few weeks before being released into the country along with those minors to await court hearings to which they often never show up.
In their coverage of the matter, Noticiero Estrella wasted no time in featuring Dolores Huerta, who along with her Foundation, as the Sacramento Bee reports, is evidently back on the campaign trail this fall drumming up support for Democrats and spreading her perennial “Republicans hate Latinos” message.
Despite the fact that the Trump administration initiative to shut down ‘Catch and Release’ enjoys widespread support from Republican politicians and conservative organizations alike, in the world of correspondent Rosa María Orbach there is apparently only opposition to the move, as she concludes her report by sweepingly saying that “both politicians and organizations will not yield” to the Trump administration’s plans.
As usual, Estrella also fails in characterizing the policy change as an attack on “immigrants” and “the immigrant community.” The policy has no bearing whatsoever on any properly admitted immigrant to the United States, much less the vast “immigrant community” comprised of the millions who have entered the country legally.
Below is the transcript of the referenced segment, which aired during the September 6, 2018 edition of Noticiero Estrella.
ADRIANA YAÑEZ, ANCHOR, ESTRELLA TV: Donald Trump is trying to manipulate the law at his convenience, to continue holding immigrants as if they were hostages. Rosa María Orbach informs us.
ROSA MARIA ORBACH, REPORTER, ESTRELLA TV: In any way possible, the Trump administration wants to continue detaining immigrant children as if they were criminals and they want them in detention centers for an indefinite period. Today this was confirmed through a proposal to Congress to eliminate the Flores agreement.
ALEX GALVEZ, IMMIGRATION LAWYER: It said that any child who fell into the hands of Immigration could not be detained for more than 20 days and on the 20th day that person was to be released to a relative, a parent who lives here in the United States.
ROSA MARIA ORBACH: If the agreement is eliminated, Trump would face the worst legal battle in the courts because Democrats, some Republicans and organizations are not going to sit idly by as the legendary Dolores Huerta warns.
DOLORES HUERTA, ACTIVIST: Trump needs to stop his policy that separates the children from their families and stop the children from also being imprisoned.
ROSA MARIA ORBACH: The Department of Homeland Security and Health of Human Services intends to amend the Flores agreement as soon as possible. However, it will not be so easy.
ALEX GALVEZ: This is only a proposal. There will be a period of time that lawyers, non-profit organizations and even states that are against this new policy will be able to raise demands to be able to slow down this new proposal and not actually do it.
ROSA MARIA ORBACH: This would not be the first time that the administration of Donald Trump wants to violate an agreement or law against the immigrant community. That is why both politicians and organizations will not yield to their demands. I am Rosa María Orbach, Estrella TV News.
