Did MSNBC Just Call the Biden Administration Immigration Policy ‘Racist’? – Opinion

You gotta love it when they eat their own – even when it is unintentional. MSNBC’s Tiffany Cross recently implied that President Joe Biden and his team are employing racist immigration practices, when it comes to Ukrainians fleeing the country after Russia invaded.

Cross challenged the White House on Saturday for seeming to favor the border. “As President Biden vows to expedite entry for 100,000 Ukrainians, we’re asking what’s up with this double standard?” she asked.

In a conversation with her guest, Samah Sisay, Bertha Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights, Cross noted the differences between how Ukrainian, and African and Central American refugees are treated by the United States’ immigration system:

“Ukrainians are bumping up against the same treatment that African and Central American asylum seekers experience regularly. They are fleeing from violence, dictatorships and gang warfare as well cartel terrorist. Why do you think as a country some people have more sympathy for one group and not the other?”

Sisay responded by arguing that “our immigration system has always been built on ideas of race, and who belongs, and who is deserving of certain treatment.”

Elle continued:

“And so while many Ukrainians who are coming to the Mexico/US border are experiencing detention or experiencing difficulties going through the asylum process, the fact is they’re being allowed in. Which is not the same for a lot of other immigrants who are coming from Central America, from African countries who are fleeing similar violence, right?”

The host then played a clip of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas telling migrants coming from Central America not to “take the dangerous journey” to the southern border. Cross said, “I wonder how that would sound to Ukrainians right now, facing what they’re facing, and someone says, ‘Don’t take the dangerous journey, stay there,’ and it’s the same thing that these migrants coming from Central America are facing.”

It isn’t the first time that the Biden administration has been criticized for inequalities in the way it treats migrants from different regions. Progressives protested when a caravan of Haitian migrants were turned away by the Biden administration in 2021. They claimed that it is easier to accept migrants from Europe than for those who are coming from Haiti.

The history of immigration policy might have been fraught with discriminatory practices – and possibly could be today. When one examines the facts, however, it does not appear that there is any racial bias in the case at hand.

Yes, there are many Central American citizens who flee violence and persecution. It does appear that many are crossing the border to better their living and employment conditions.

The reality is that the Ukrainians now live in a war zone. Russia’s military offensive isn’t exactly the most optimal conditions to which one could be subjected. Numerous people on both sides have been killed in the conflict. Worse, hostilities do not seem to be slowing down. It makes perfect sense in this instance to give priority to these individuals; their lives are at risk every day they live in Ukraine.

Cross’s implication is interesting, considering that Cross works at a network that often rehashes pro-Democratic propaganda. Interesting that Cross could even suggest that a Democrat would use racist policy. This begs the question, will it continue to exist or is this just a passing fad?