CNN anchor Brianna Keilar's segment on illegal immigrants and COVID-19 received pushback from Twitter users when she claimed there is no way the thousands of people illegally crossing the border on a daily basis could help explain the rise in COVID-19 cases in the United States.
Keilar said while the current situation at the border is a crisis, the real problem is Republicans who are "capitalizing on it by demonizing immigrants as diseased spreaders of covid - with no facts to back that up"
President Biden has a border crisis on his hands - no doubt.
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) August 9, 2021
But conservatives are capitalizing on it by demonizing immigrants as diseased spreaders of covid - with no facts to back that up. #RollTheTape pic.twitter.com/nmUsbdM5i9
Keilar mentioned how many more people who have been caught attempting to illegally enter along the U.S.-Mexico border have been expelled under Title 42, neglecting to mention the reason for more Title 42 expulsions under President Joe Biden is because of the significant surge in illegal immigration. What Keilar also failed to mention was how the number of "got aways" at the border has risen to its highest level in recent years. So not only have there been cases of COVID-positive immigrants not staying in their hotel rooms in border towns but there are many people who are not tested for COVID-19 at all simply because they have been able to avoid apprehension.
Trail camera footage of a group of illegal aliens walking on a ranch in Kinney County, Texas. Taken 8/8.
— Charlotte Cuthbertson (@charlottecuthbo) August 9, 2021
In this border sector, Border Patrol detected almost 10,000 “gotaways” in July. pic.twitter.com/jJTLbmh4ou
This problem is, even among those who willingly hand themselves over to Border Patrol, not everyone is tested for COVID-19. And the ones who get tested and are positive for COVID-19 have overwhelmed Border Patrol and the local NGOs who have been assisting with the overflow of immigrants. This has forced cities and Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley to set up a temporary holding site for those who are COVID-positive.
Despite all of these facts, Keilar continued to insist the only reason for the increase in COVID-19 cases is due to Republican Fox viewers and falsely added, "not migrants who are near 100 percent tested and quarantined if positive."
Unvaccinated Americans, disproportionately Republican Fox viewers, are fueling the surge, not migrants who are near 100 percent tested and quarantined if positive. Why not talk about the border crisis without dabbling in BS and racist tropes about immigrants. https://t.co/xrDYH6LrbM
— Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) August 9, 2021
This is not to say every single person illegally crossing the border is infected with COVID-19 or that they are the only reason why cases of COVID-19 have increased in recent weeks. What we can say is that if Democrats and the mainstream media truly cared about mitigating COVID-19 cases, then they would take the border crisis seriously and would not want to incentivize illegal immigration during a global pandemic. Either we're in a pandemic that requires us to act like it's March 2020 or we're not and Americans can return to normal, but CNN can't have it both ways.