On Thursday night, ABC and NBC continued to make no mention of a damning report by USA Today [1] that the Obama administration covered up the release of illegal immigrants from prisons who had committed numerous violent crimes, including rape and murder.
At the conclusion of the morning newscasts of the major broadcast networks, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today had no coverage [2] while CBS This Morning mentioned it in a news brief that lasted for just 21 seconds.
By the time the evening newscasts had aired, ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir and NBC Nightly News followed their morning counterparts and said nothing about the report.
Despite the administration informing Congress that the 2,200 “low-risk” individuals were released from detention to save money were selected because they did “not have serious criminal records,”:
[R]ecords, obtained by USA Today, show immigration officials released some undocumented immigrants who had faced far more serious criminal charges, including people charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, drug trafficking and homicide.
The article reported that the documents were in relation to people U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had “freed as it prepared for steep, across-the-government spending cuts in February 2013.”
Even though more than two-thirds of those released did not have violent criminal records, several individuals had neveretheless far more extensive criminal histories than believed.
While CBS was been the only network to mention the story, my colleague Scott Whitlock pointed out [3] on Thursday morning that:
Though CBS This Morning's journalists should be given credit for actually covering the story, one is reminded of a comment by co-host Gayle King on August 4. Guest Mike Hogan from Vanity Fair recounted this remark from King on illegals: "I think Gayle [King] in the green room said, 'As long as they're not doing anything illegal, you know, let them live.'"
Perhaps violent illegals finally reach the bar set by liberal hosts like King?
Instead of even providing a news brief on this story of mistrust between the Obama administration and Congress, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir found time to inform viewers that a cast member from the reality show Real Housewives of New Jersey will be serving [4] a 15-month jail sentence in the same prison that the Netflix show Orange Is the New Black is based off of.
Over on NBC Nightly News, that program mentioned a Miami Marlins fan that has traveled to numerous major sporting events over the years (including this year’s World Series) and made it a habit of being on television.
— Curtis Houck is News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Curtis Houck on Twitter. [5]