Things got awkward fast when Tucker Carlson asked a Mexican official why Central Americans migrating through Mexico shouldn’t be allowed to remain there.
Speaking with Guanajuato Secretary of Migration Juan Hernandez on Wednesday night’s edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the Fox News host began by asking why Hernandez’s own words from the past wouldn’t constitute a “hostile act” against the United States.
WATCH:
“I want to read three quotes from a Mexican government official, and these are direct quotes,” Carlson said. “‘We are betting Mexican-Americans will think ‘Mexico first,’ even unto the seventh generation. Mexican immigrants to the United States are going to keep one foot in Mexico. They are not going to assimilate in the sense of not being Mexican,’ and final quote, ‘We recognize the Mexican population is 100 million in Mexico and 23 million who live in the United States. We are a united nation.'”
“Those quotes are from you,” Carlson told Hernandez. “And I wonder if a government takes that position, that it’s sending foreign nationals to your country. That is a hostile act. So why are we sending money to a country committing hostile acts against us?”
“No, it’s not, my friend, no, no it’s not a hostile act at all,” Hernandez said before stating that the quote was from “about 15 years ago.”
Hernandez responded to Carlson’s attempts to nail him down as to whether his position had changed by contending that the U.S. immigration system is “still broken.” After a back-and-forth, the Fox News host asked Hernandez why the Mexican government wasn’t “stopping migrants from Central America before they get to the United States.”
“Instead, Mexico is encouraging them to come here,” Carlson contended. “That is not the behavior of an ally. They are not welcome. They are not here legally. We have a process and they are not going through the process. So that is an act of hostility and you can lie about it all you want but we know that it is.” (RELATED: Tucker Asked Jorge Ramos How Many Caravan Migrants He Planned To Take In — Things Got Awkward Fast)
After an exchange in which Hernandez took issue with being called a liar, Carlson asked why, if the migrants are “very good people,” that Mexico doesn’t “let them stay forever and vote in your elections, but remain Guatemalans and Hondurans ‘unto the seventh generation,’ as you said about your own people, about Mexican citizens?”
After a pause, Hernandez awkwardly pivoted again by stating the immigrants are just “looking for a better life.”
Finally, the Fox News host ended the interview after it became obvious the Mexican official wouldn’t answer.
“Now I’m getting mad,” Carlson said. “I’m gonna stop this.”