Things got heated on CNN when a New York Times journalist pushed back hard against a conservative commentator who tried to equate undocumented immigrants with criminals during a debate on President Donald Trump’s threats to send federal troops into Chicago.
While Trump hasn’t yet deployed troops to the city, his administration has openly threatened to send in the National Guard as part of a broader crackdown, and planning has reportedly been underway for weeks.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a journalist with the New York Times, clashed with conservative commentator Scott Jennings during a segment of The Arena on Monday afternoon. The conversation quickly zeroed in on Trump’s immigration push.
Garcia-Navarro argued that Americans are understandably alarmed. “No wonder people are alarmed,” she said. “Because if it is not clear what the purpose of these kinds of operations are, people are going to assume the worst.”
She pointed to Trump’s crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., which started out focused on violent crime but soon shifted into immigration enforcement. Jennings responded sharply, asking, “Aren’t they one in the same? If you’re in the country illegally, you’re a criminal.”
Garcia-Navarro fired back instantly. “No. That’s not the same thing,” she said firmly. “Why?” Jennings pressed. Democratic strategist Adrienne Elrod jumped in to note that crossing the border without documentation is a civil offense, not a criminal one. Jennings, shaking his head, wasn’t having it. “Oh my gosh. I can’t believe we’re going to have this fight again. If you’re going to break U.S. immigration law, why shouldn’t you be deported?”
The panel quickly devolved into people talking over one another. Garcia-Navarro cut through the noise: “No, no, no, no, no!” She accused Jennings of trying to paint all undocumented immigrants as violent offenders. “You are trying to say that anyone in this country illegally is some kind of murderer or killer,” she said. Jennings flatly denied it, but Garcia-Navarro pressed on.
“Crime? No. Crime is a different thing. Shootings, muggings — things the president talks about — are different than immigration enforcement. Those are two different things. They’re dealt with by different groups of law enforcement. They are two different things. To conflate them is disingenuous.”
The fiery exchange captured the tension at the heart of Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown, as critics warn that blurring the line between crime and immigration only stokes fear while defenders argue that breaking immigration law should carry harsher consequences.