Ana Navarro, co-host of the worst daytime talk show ever created, The View, picked a fight Tuesday night with a CNN NewsNight panelist who dared mention criminal illegal migrants. Navarro falsely claimed that many of the individuals Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detain are not criminals.
Here’s an inconvenient truth: when immigrants cross the border illegally, they commit a crime. So yes, every illegal immigrant is a criminal. If Navarro meant “violent” or “dangerous” criminals, fine — some detained illegals don’t have long rap sheets.
But let’s be honest. ICE agents primarily target members of gangs and cartels, ruthless people no sane community wants roaming the streets unchecked, free to do whatever they please.
ICE facilities in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, erupted in multiple riots as opposition to the agency’s work intensified. Former Texas Republican Party finance chair Hal Lambert pushed back on media distortions of ICE operations before Navarro interrupted.
“No, it’s not what the media would like you to believe,” she insisted. “We see it every day. If there was Tren De Aragua, there would be evidence that there was Tren De Aragua. If there were criminals, there would be evidence there were criminals. You know what there is evidence of?” Navarro demanded, before Lambert cut in with, “There is evidence,” and she immediately talked over him.
“There is evidence that the majority of people who have been grabbed are people without criminal records,” Navarro continued. “Many of them became undocumented because TPS ended, because programs that made them legal here ended. So don’t tell me—”
Lambert jumped in: “Biden opened the border—”
Take a glance at the data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP): Border Patrol agents encountered millions of illegal immigrants during Joe Biden’s presidency. His administration released many of them into the U.S.
“You can say whatever the hell you want about the border,” Navarro fumed, “but don’t come here and lie about most of them being criminals, because that is simply false.”
Sorry, Ana, but the numbers and common sense don’t back you up. A large portion of those crossing illegally are fleeing prosecution in their home countries or being trafficked by cartels eager to expand their drug routes and profits.
“You’re making it the sympathetic argument, but—” Lambert began.
“No, I’m not making the sympathetic argument,” Navarro snapped. “I’m making the factual argument. The majority of the people who have been grabbed and detained, deported, disappeared, are people without criminal records.”
“You don’t have the stats on that either,” Lambert replied. “But I’m just going to say this—”
“Go look it up,” Navarro barked. “Go look it up. CNN has reported the stats.”
Meanwhile, Border Czar Tom Homan dismantled that narrative in an interview with Fox News host Harris Faulkner.
“Every morning, on my way to the White House, I review 22 pages of ICE data showing exactly what the agency did in the past 24 hours,” Homan said. “Here’s what it says: roughly 70% of everyone ICE arrests is a criminal. Who are the other 30%? Many are national security threats. Many have final orders for removal after due process. Judges ordered them deported, and we must comply with the law. The rest are collaterals—those we encounter while carrying out other operations. I read it every day.”
Facts are pesky things for leftists like Navarro, who substitute feelings for logic. Unfortunately for her, facts don’t bend to emotional narratives.
As Ben Shapiro famously says, “Facts don’t care about your feelings.”
American citizens — especially in border and inner-city communities — deal daily with the fallout from illegal immigration. Dangerous criminals pour in because the Biden administration refuses to enforce federal law. President Trump and his team did their duty: they enforced the law and protected Americans.
That’s what real leadership looks like, and no amount of daytime talk-show tantrums will change it.
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