Fox News Dishonestly Dismisses Border Enforcement Provisions In Senate Immigration Bill

 

Washington Examiner correspondent Byron York dishonestly criticized the Senate immigration bill as a mere “promise of border security,” ignoring the significant border enforcement component of the Senate immigration bill.

On the July 17 edition of America's Newsroom, co-host Bill Hemmer and York discussed a recent Fox News poll on immigration which found that 81% of those surveyed are in favor of “strengthening border security,” while 74% favor legalization that includes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently in the country. York responded to the poll by falsely claiming that the Senate immigration bill is weak on border enforcement:

YORK: Well, the key word is first. The big issue is the sequence of those things, because a lot of Americans do favor legalizing the immigrants who are here illegally at the moment and putting them on a path to citizenship. But they want border security to be in place first. And the Senate bill was essentially a promise of border security in place, and the House will want to insist on the reality of border security that's actually done and in place before the process gets underway.

York failed to mention that the immigration reform bill that passed the Senate on June 27 includes a drastic increase in border enforcement measures thanks to an amendment authored by Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and John Hoeven (R-ND). The amendment's comprehensive border provision would fortify the border in each sector between ports of entry, add another 17,000 border patrol agents, increase total fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border to 700 miles, and allocate $3.2 billion for additional air and marine support across the Southwestern border.

The conservative think tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute described the bill's border provision as “not simple border security --  personnel-wise, it's a mobilization proportional to the one in Afghanistan.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) similarly said that the bill would turn the Southwestern border into the “the most militarized border since the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

York's comments should come as no surprise given his history of immigration reform obstructionism at the Washington Examiner.