After downplaying or ignoring the rapidly deteriorating situation at the southern border, the big three evening newscasts sang a different tune Wednesday night having realized they can no longer ignore the situation without looking out of touch.
During the ABC World News Tonight broadcast, correspondent Matt Rivers sounded the alarm over the “unprecedented situation near downtown El Paso.”
“Hundreds of migrants fighting the bitter cold, huddling in blankets,” Rivers reported before remarking how “the line to get into the United States snaking far along the banks of the Rio Grande.”
The situation has gotten so bad that according to Rivers “migrant facilities [are] now at or over capacity,” and within the last week “nearly 7,000 people have been released, pending court hearings, some sleeping on the street in makeshift tents.”
Speaking to Rivers, El Paso, Texas deputy city manager Mario D’Agostino expressed the seriousness of the situation: “It's a true emergency for the community. It's a federal crisis that's happening within the border of El Paso.”
Rivers ended his report by warning that “local officials say the situation is about to get even worse,” since “next week could see the end of Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allows for the immediate expulsion of migrants without allowing them to seek asylum.”
Meanwhile, on CBS Evening News, correspondent Lilia Luciano reported how El Paso is “under incredible strain” from the border crisis “seeing an average of 2,500 crossings a day.”
The following exchange sums up how the influx is affecting local officials and volunteers:
RUBEN GARCIA (DIRECTOR OF ANNUNCIATION HOUSE): People are gonna ask me, where can I go? Where do I go?
LUCIANO: What do you tell them?
GARCIA: And I just say I don't have a place for you. Because all the places I know are all so full.
LUCIANO: For over four decades Ruben Garcia has served migrants at Enunciation House and says he has never seen El Paso like this. The situation is only expected to get worse a week from today when Title 42, a pandemic-era law that the U.S. uses to turn migrants away is set to expire. Garcia says a humanitarian crisis here can only be prevented if the city, county, churches, and the federal government step up efforts to shelter thousands more.
GARCIA: If Title 42 gets lifted, and those four entities are not operating at their max, you're going to be down here doing more stories with many, many more people sleeping out on the street, in even colder weather.
NBC Nightly News also interviewed Garcia and asked if Biden should have seen this “particular influx coming.”
Garcia responded: “Absolutely. Because of the paralysis in Congress, the Senate, and the House, and the worst part of that are the politicians who use it for political gain.”
Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez added that “both city officials and migrant advocates here are telling us this is a humanitarian crisis and they’re pleading for the federal government to take more action quickly.”
The relevant transcript of each segment is below:
ABC’s World News Tonight
12/14/2022
6:41:51 p.m. EasternDAVID MUIR: In the meantime, here at home tonight, and to the crisis at the southern border. The surge of migrants near El Paso, Texas. Again tonight the long lines growing even longer now. People wrapped in blankets against the cold, waiting to cross over. The facilities designed to help them already over capacity tonight, and authorities warning this could soon get even worse when Title 42 expires. So, what's driving this surge already? ABC's Matt Rivers tonight on the border for us.
MATT RIVERS: Tonight, an unprecedented situation near downtown El Paso. Hundreds of migrants fighting the bitter cold, huddling in blankets. The line to get into the United States snaking far along the banks of the Rio Grande.
[...]
6:43:05 p.m. Eastern
RIVERS: In El Paso, migrant facilities now at or over capacity. In just the last week, nearly 7,000 people have been released, pending court hearings, some sleeping on the street in makeshift tents.
MARIO D’AGOSTINO (DEPUTY CITY MANAGER, EL PASO, TX): It's a true emergency for the community. It's a federal crisis that's happening within the border of El Paso.
RIVERS: Local officials say the situation is about to get even worse. Next week could see the end of Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allows for the immediate expulsion of migrants without allowing them to seek asylum.
[...]
CBS Evening News
12/14/2022
6:35:42 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: Tonight the country is bracing for a migration influx as a pandemic-era restriction that allows officials to immediately expel migrants crossing into the U.S. Is set to be lifted next week. About 7,000 migrants have entered the border city of El Paso Texas in just the past three days and that number could soon nearly double. CBS's Lilia Luciano is there for us.
[...]
LILIA LUCIANO: The city is under incredible strain, seeing an average of 2,500 crossings a day.
RUBEN GARCIA (DIRECTOR OF ANNUNCIATION HOUSE): People are gonna ask me, where can I go? Where do I go?
LUCIANO: What do you tell them?
GARCIA: And I just say I don't have a place for you. Because all the places I know are all so full.
LUCIANO: For over four decades Ruben Garcia has served migrants at Enunciation House and says he has never seen El Paso like this. The situation is only expected to get worse a week from today when Title 42, a pandemic-era law that the U.S. uses to turn migrants away is set to expire. Garcia says a humanitarian crisis here can only be prevented if the city, county, churches, and the federal government step up efforts to shelter thousands more.
GARCIA: If Title 42 gets lifted, and those four entities are not operating at their max, you're going to be down here doing more stories with many, many more people sleeping out on the street, in even colder weather.
[...]
NBC Nightly News
12/14/2022
7:10:00 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Now to the migrant crisis at the border which could get even worse when a Trump-era border restriction is lifted in just days. El Paso officials tonight with an urgent plea for help. Gabe Gutierrez is there.
GABE GUTIERREZ: Under intense pressure to act the Department of Homeland Security now says it's deploying more agents amid the new migrant influx. Overnight we saw an even larger group lining up to get into El Paso. It's right before dawn and the conditions here are miserable with the wind chill, the temperature here feels like its below freezing.
The border patrol is letting 10 to 15 of these migrants in at a time but the line stretches all the way down there. Some are then released onto the streets of El Paso to fend for themselves. This couple from Nicaragua made the decision to cross now because they expect more chaos at the border next week. That's when a federal court ordered the lifting of a pandemic-era border restriction known as Title 42 which authorities now say could lead to a record 10,000 illegal border crossings a day.
[...]
GUTIERREZ: Should the Biden administration have seen this particular influx coming?
RUBEN GARCIA (DIRECTOR OF ANNUNCIATION HOUSE): Absolutely. Because of the paralysis in Congress, the Senate, and the House, and the worst part of that are the politicians who use it for political gain.
GUTIERREZ: Tonight both city officials and migrant advocates here are telling us this is a humanitarian crisis and they’re pleading for the federal government to take more action quickly.
