As President Obama delivered an immigration policy statement Monday, MSNBC simultaneously ran what amounted to a pro-immigration reform PowerPoint presentation onscreen.
During the Rose Garden speech, Obama took a swipe at Republicans: “They’ve proven again and again that they’re unwilling to stand up to the tea party in order to do what’s best for the country, and the worst part about it is a bunch of them know better. We now have an actual humanitarian crisis on the border that only underscores the need to drop the politics and fix our immigration system once and for all.”
But as the president uttered the lines, “In recent weeks, we’ve seen a surge of unaccompanied children arrive at the border…,” MSNBC began airing slides to complement Obama’s statement.
One slide, credited to NBC News, documented the number of children arrested for illegally trying to enter the U.S.
Another slide, credited to the Hollywood-backed Welcome.us, highlighted the number of children placed in foster care because their parents have been deported.
A final graphic showed the estimated number of undocumented immigrants thought to be living in the U.S. and was credited to the Associated Press.
Welcome.us describes itself as the “Home of Immigrant Heritage Month” on it’s website and asks readers to share their immigration stories.
The honorary board of Welcome.us includes magician David Blaine, musicians Michael Bolton and Macy Gray and Hollywood actors Jamie Lee Curtis, Sally Field, Jared Leto, and Lisa Kudrow. Rap mogul Russell Simmons and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also on the board.
Zuckerberg has been a forceful proponent of immigration reform and has not been shy about using his power as CEO of the world’s largest social networking organization to leverage his view. (RELATED: Zuckerberg to use Facebook to boost immigrant worker bill)