Share
News

CNN Host Reluctantly Admits 'It Pains Me To Say' Trump Is Right About Asylum Seekers

Share

CNN host Fareed Zakaria has made no bones about his dislike for President Donald Trump and his policies. On Sunday, he made it clear that he also agrees with Trump on the issue of the crisis at America’s Southern Border.

After making his distaste for the president clear, Zakaria then made his admission.

“It pains me to say this, but he is right, that the United States faces a crisis with its asylum system. Democrats might hope that the out-of-control situation at the southern border undermines Trump’s image among his base as a tough guy who can tackle immigration. But they should be careful. It could actually work to the president’s advantage,” he said.

Zakaria based his position on the massive flow of asylum seekers who have flooded a system meant to handle far fewer people. He noted that immigration courts have experienced a 240 percent increase in cases since 2014 and more than 300,000 cases are now pending.



Trending:
KJP Panics, Hangs Up in Middle of Interview When Reporter Shows He Isn't a Democratic Party Propagandist

“It’s also clear that the rules surrounding asylum are vague, lax and being gamed,” he said.

“Some applicants for asylum have suspiciously similar stories using identical phrases. Many simply use the system to enter the U.S. and then melt into the shadows or gain a work permit while their application is pending,” he said.

Zakaria expanded on his thoughts in an Op-Ed for The Washington Post in which he traced the history of asylum cases and the expansion of the criteria that can be used to claim it.

“These looser criteria, coupled with the reality that it is a safe way to enter the United States, have made the asylum system easy to abuse,” he wrote.

Should asylum rules be revised to restrict those who can use it to enter the U.S.?

“More broadly, hundreds of millions of people around the world who live in poor, unstable regions where threats of violence abound could apply for asylum. Do they all have the legal right to enter the United States through a back door, bypassing the normal immigration process?”

Zakaria said Sunday that lawmakers need to get to the root of the problem and develop fair, sensible criteria for asylum.

“The criteria for asylum need to be rewritten and substantially tightened. The number of courts and officials dealing with asylum must be massively expanded. People should not be able to use asylum claims as a way to work in America. There needs to be a much greater cooperation with the home countries of these applicants rather than insults, threats and aid freezes,” he said.

“Democrats have spent most of their efforts on this topic assailing the Trump administration for its heartlessness. Fine. But that does not address the roots of this genuine crisis,” he said.

Zakaria also issued a warning that failure to solve the immigration crisis could have deeper ramifications than politicians understand.

Related:
Mar-a-Lago on the Market? Real Estate CEO Tells CNN Host Why Trump May Need to Sell with Major Deadline Coming Up

“Keep in mind, that the rise of populism in the Western world is almost everywhere tied to fears of growing out of control immigration,” he said.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , ,
Share
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




Conversation