Fox News is known for making outlandish statements about everything from former President Barack Obama to the racial background of Santa Claus, but as Donald Trump continues to come under fire for his horrific and inhumane immigration policies—which has resulted in nearly 2,500 children being ripped away from their parents—Fox News has come to the Trump’s defense with a crazy, yet totally predictable argument: Black people had it worse.
Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy defended the Trump administration’s choice to build detention campus for young people who have been taken away from their parents after crossing the border by comparing them to public housing conditions.
“I spoke to some African-Americans who say, ‘Gosh, the conditions of the detention centers are better than some of the projects that I grew up in,’” Campos-Duffy said Thursday on The Ingraham Angle.
“The detention centers are far safer than the journey that these children just came on.” She added, “People aren’t stupid.”
To be clear, Fox News doesn’t actually care about Black Americans.
However, by equating these detention camps to the conditions of public housing, Campos-Duffy and her fellow Fox News propagandist are hoping to pit Black folks against immigrants and distract from the humanitarian crisis the Trump administration has caused.
But here’s the rub, the immigrants crossing the border to seek asylum include a substantial number of Black people. According to the Black Alliance for Just Immigration: “We have also seen an increasing share of Black immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa making the dangerous journey to cross the U.S. Mexico border. According to BAJI’s Black Lives at the Border Report, ‘People from the Caribbean make up the largest share of migrants entering the border outside of Central Americans and Mexican migrants.’”
Trying to position Black Americans against immigrants seeking a better life doesn’t make much sense, and it’s backfiring. Several people took to social media to denounce Campos-Duffy’s comments.
While Trump may have hoped his recent executive order ending family separations would put an end to the coverage, it’s clear his administration’s immigration policies will continue to remain in the news.