Douglas V. Gibbs was interviewed on Al Jazeera America regarding immigration on December 30, 2014.
Prior to my interview, the network was wrapping up part 1 of their Border Series following a family at the border on the verge of crossing into the United States. Heidi of Al Jazeera was finishing her remarks on the story as I was prepared to join the program.
Post Interview Notes:
The interviewer, Dale, looks like he is Hispanic. My speculation was that the producers at Al Jazeera hoped it would make it look like a “Hispanic versus the racist white guy” interview. I am guessing he didn’t know my wife is Mexican.
On SKYPE, I was careful to place myself on the video where the bottom of the screen was just a little above my belly button. The image, however, on television was zoomed further in than I wanted, making my head dominate the screen, and making me look more menacing (or at least that is what I think they wanted to achieve).
Dale opened by explaining that I helped organize the anti-immigration protests in Murrieta, which is not necessarily the case. There were no organizers. I did help by inviting as many people as I knew to participate, and I am friends with the people who did most of the work regarding the immigration protests in Murrieta, and I did what I could to help them.
When Dale asked me, “Has there been a terrorist that has made his way across the border that you know of?”, I should have said, “It only takes one.”
My answer to the “terrorist across the border” quip was about how one in three illegal border crossers at San Ysidro are of Middle Eastern descent. He questioned the validity of my statement, and I can only say that it was true prior to the recent influx, but since a large number of Central and South Americans have joined the hordes coming across the border, that statistic may no longer be completely accurate. Nonetheless, a significant number of Middle Eastern born immigrants do cross our southern border, and there has been reports that a number of them have ties to terrorist groups.
The “anti-Hispanic thing, or anti-immigration thing” question was designed to corner me. I don’t think the host expected me to reveal that my wife is Mexican, and was born in Mexico, nor did he expect that I would focus on the health concerns, and my concerns over the lack of screening of these individuals. The need to screen these people to protect the receiving population was never something he commented on. It is a position the liberal left can’t argue against.
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