Fox News claims border situation 'getting worse,' immediately contradicts itself

In the span of about 45 seconds, Fox News on Thursday claimed that “images” of migrants in Del Rio, Texas, are “getting worse,” then admitted that the number of people congregated there has been cut in half from its peak.

The conflicting statements occurred during a segment on “Fox & Friends” criticizing President Joe Biden for not visiting the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The White House stumped over whether President Biden has ever visited the southern border in his lifetime, as images of migrants living under that bridge just keep getting worse,” noted co-host Steve Doocy.

A few seconds after Doocy’s statement, his co-host Brian Kilmeade admitted the number of people was down “to 7,000” from what Fox reporter Lawrence Jones said was 15,000 people under the bridge when he was reporting from the scene in previous days.

“It was about 15,000 when I was there,” said Jones, adding, “They eventually got it where they were able to start moving people, about 3,000 a day, but they just can’t get control of the situation.”

Fox has for several days repeatedly aired footage of migrants at the Del Rio International Bridge, using the situation to attack the Biden administration for rescinding many of the harsh immigration policies of the Trump administration.

On Saturday, the Biden administration announced that it would begin deporting the Haitian migrants who have surged to Del Rio.

The Department of Homeland Security has said that since then, 4,000 people have either been moved to other processing facilities or deported to Haiti.

Many of the migrants at the bridge left Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed several thousand people, and have been living in South America.

In addition to increased flights to Haiti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would reroute border traffic from Del Rio to its facilities in Eagle Pass, Texas.

The decision to deport people to Haiti has been criticized by congressional Democrats. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), and 54 other representatives sent a letter to the administration on Friday urging a stop to the process.

“The Biden Administration cannot claim it is doing everything it can to support the Haitian community while continuing to unjustly deport Haitians as the island weathers its worst political, public health and economic crises yet,” said the letter.

Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on July 7, and the island was hit by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Aug. 14 that killed over 2,100 people.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.