Vice President Kamala Harris drew ridicule during her trip to Central America last week when she stood before the press in Guatemala and told residents “don’t come” to the United States (despite the Biden administration welcoming them in any way). Well, according to a Fox News Channel report Wednesday evening, the people making the trip aren’t hearing her.
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin was reporting from the Reo Grange Valley when he shared a story on Special Report about he had ran into a large group of illegal immigrants from Ecuador.
“Some of the migrants told me they never heard Kamala Harris' message to them,” he recalled before playing a soundbite of their interaction:
MELUGIN (in Spanish to man): You didn’t hear the message from Kamala Harris to not come here to the border?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN (in Spanish): No, we didn’t hear. We didn’t hear anything.
Melugin followed up by drawing attention to the bipartisan calls for Harris to do her job and visit the crisis zone. “This as Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar penned this later to Kamala Harris urging her to visit the border with him to see the impacts of the current surge. The crisis, he says, is only getting worse,” he added.
This came as Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) had announced that he would be having the state build its own border wall. “He says the state has to do it because, in his words, the federal government has completely abandoned its responsibility here at the border,” Melugin told viewers. “And the Governor says the state has identified hundreds of miles of both private and public land they believe will work for this new border wall.”
As NewsBusters reported on Thursday, CBS This Morning accused Abbott of “playing politics” with the border crisis. “Critics of Texas Governor Greg Abbott say he's playing politics with his proposal that the state build its own border wall,” co-anchor Anthony Mason declared.
Of course, CBS was back to ignoring the crisis in time for the CBS Evening News. And neither ABC nor NBC cared to mention Abbott’s move.
But there was more from Melugin as he talked about how Border Patrol had arrested multiple convicted sex offenders charged with crimes against children:
And new disturbing information from Border Patrol. The agency reporting this week, right here in the Rio Grande Valley, they arrested a convicted child rapist from Peru and a Mexican national with a conviction for sexual assault of a child. Both men taken into custody after illegally crossing into the United States.
And speaking out criminal illegals, Melugin had more on Thursday. “Agents apprehended an MS-13 gang member and a Salvador national with a third-degree rape conviction out of the State of New York,” he said. “So far, this year, just here in the Rio Grande Valley, more than 1,300 criminal migrants have been arrested.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
June 16, 2021
6:17:18 p.m. EasternBRET BAIER: The Republican Governor of Texas says he will lead an effort to secure a wall along his state’s southern border with Mexico. Governor Abbott talking about how he is going to do that a short time ago. This comes as the blazing heat wave in the southwest is doing little to curb the influx of illegal immigrants into the U.S. We have new video tonight of dozens of Ecuadorian migrants crossing over. Correspondent Bill Melugin joins us tonight from La Joya. Good evening, Bill.
BILL MELUGIN: Bret, good evening to you. Just a short time ago Texas Governor Greg Abbott made a pretty major announcement telling the public that Texas is going to begin the process of building its own border wall down here. He says the state has to do it because, in his words, the federal government has completely abandoned its responsibility here at the border. Take a listen.
[Cuts to video]
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We know that temporary barriers and fences won't be enough to slow the flow of the record amount of illegal immigration that's taking place. And that's why today we are announcing that Texas will build a border wall in our state to help secure our border.
[Cuts back to live]
MELUGIN: And the Governor says the state has identified hundreds of miles of both private and public land they believe will work for this new border wall. On top of that, we’ve been witnessing tons of activity down here. This announcement coming as this border surge is not slowing down and new bipartisan calls for VP Kamala Harris to come down here and see this surge herself.
[Cuts to video]
La Joya, Texas, early this morning. A scene we have witness play out here every single day. Like clockwork, large groups of migrants crossed into the United States when the Texas heat is tamer. Many of them, women with children and infants. This group of about 50 seeks out Border Patrol; walking down local roads until they’re eventually apprehended.
Late Tuesday afternoon, we witnessed this group of about 30 migrants emerge from the brush behind us also in La Joya, many of them appearing to be exhausted in the blistering sun. They sat down waiting for overstretched Border Patrol to find them. There were no agents in the immediate area as the agency continues to be overwhelmed here in the Rio Grande Valley.
Some of the migrants told me they never heard Kamala Harris' message to them.
[In Spanish to man] You didn’t hear the message from Kamala Harris to not come here to the border?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN (In Spanish): No, we didn’t hear. We didn’t hear anything.
MELUGIN: This as Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar penned this later to Kamala Harris urging her to visit the border with him to see the impacts of the current surge. The crisis, he says, is only getting worse.
And today Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis announcing he is going to be sending Florida law enforcement to Texas and Arizona to help supplement their border security.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): The state of Florida is answering the call. [Transition] We believe that securing the southern border is important for our country.
MELUGIN: Meanwhile, Donald Trump announced he will visit the border on June 30th with Governor Greg Abbott. The former President saying Joe Biden's handling of the border has turned it into a, quote, “unmitigated disaster zone.”
And new disturbing information from Border Patrol. The agency reporting this week, right here in the Rio Grande Valley, they arrested a convicted child rapist from Peru and a Mexican national with a conviction for sexual assault of a child. Both men taken into custody after illegally crossing into the United States.
[Cuts back to live]
And Texas Governor Greg Abbott went on to mention that the state legislator here in Texas has allocated about a billion dollars for border security. He says that's not fair whatsoever to taxpayers here in the Texas, having to pay for the job of what he says the federal government should be doing.
He says the first step to correcting this is building their own border wall. And he says, he wants his local troopers, local deputies down here making more arrests of people as soon as they start coming across the border. We’ll send it back to you.
BAIER: Bill Melugin live in La Joya, Texas. Bill, thanks.
