Fox News anchor Sandra Smith cut off Democratic Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz Wednesday afternoon after he voiced his concern over the crisis at the southern border.
Smith pressed Moskowitz about the Democratic Party’s denial of the border crisis on “America Reports” after the congressman delivered a lengthy condemnation of crimes committed by the influx of illegal migrants entering the United States.
Moskowitz said the alleged murder of University of Georgia student Laken Riley by Jose Antonio Ibarra, an illegal immigrant who entered the country in 2022, was “unacceptable in this country.” Ibarra lived in Athens, Georgia, despite being arrested and released twice.
“The idea that he was detained and then released so that he could go and commit another crime is ridiculous,” Moskowitz told Smith. “This is a failure of the sanctuary city policy, it’s not something that I support.”
The congressman mentioned the bipartisan border security bill as a solution, adding “We’re not gonna fix” the border crisis “unless we have a bipartisan solution in place.” The abandoned legislation appropriated $118 billion total, combining $48 billion in foreign aid to Ukraine and $16 billion in foreign aid to Israel with the border policy. (RELATED: ‘A Giant Photo-Op’: James Carville Says He’s ‘Not Overly’ Thrilled With Biden’s Planned Border Visit)
“We gotta be proactive. We’ve gotta fix the issues at the border —” Moskowitz said.
“Part of the problem is this was happening,” Smith interrupted. “This man who was walking freely to then go kill this 22-year-old girl, he was crossing over the border at a time when your party was saying our borders are closed, our borders are secure.”
“This administration was saying that things are better than they were in the previous administration. There was an insistence that everything was fine. So now, now your party’s crying crisis and that it’s Republicans’ fault. So where were Democrats then?” Smith asked.
“Well, both things can be true, right? One thing can be true, which is, first of all, illegal immigration has been happening in all sorts of administrations. It’s going on for decades. It didn’t just start now,” Moskowitz said.
“Another thing can be true, which is Republicans have been talking about it the last couple of years, and Democrats were a little late to the party,” the congressman continued. “Another thing can be true is that there was a bipartisan bill to fix, and Donald Trump killed it because he wants the issue for his campaign.”
“All of those things can be true simultaneously. It doesn’t have to be an and/or,” Moskowitz said.