The Slatest

Today in Conservative Media: “A New Era of Immigration Policy”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images

A daily roundup of the biggest stories in right-wing media.  

On Wednesday, several conservative sites focused on an online survey whose results show, in the words of a TownHall headline, that “Americans Still Overwhelmingly Oppose Sanctuary Cities.” The online survey was conducted by Harris Poll, an organization that Breitbart identifies as “co-managed by Democratic pollster Mark Penn.”

InfoWars, like many other conservative outlets, focused on one result from the poll, framing it with the headline: “Shock Poll: 80% of Americans Oppose Sanctuary Cities.” (Breitbart also featured this number on its home page.) The 80 percent figure derives from a question that proposes, “Cities that arrest illegal immigrants for crimes should be required to turn them over to immigration authorities.”

TownHall suggested that the survey indicated “that Americans are sympathetic to” the story of “ ‘angel mom’ Laura Wilkerson [who] offered an emotional explanation of how her child was murdered at the hands of an illegal immigrant.” InfoWars, meanwhile, wrote, “The results show clearly Americans want these aliens deported and do not believe ‘they’re enriching our culture’ and ‘helping our economy,’” quotations that do not appear to derive from the survey.

The immigration issue in general was widely covered by right-wing sites. The Daily Caller looked at two memos signed on Monday by the Department of Homeland Security, saying that they “ushered in a new era of immigration policy,” while focusing on how they diverge from Obama-era approaches. Covering the same news, National Review wrote, “The lesson here is that apologists for illegal aliens will come to rue the end of the dishonest Obama approach to immigration enforcement.”

LifeZette, meanwhile, ran an article focusing on GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s objection to the inclusion of Iraq in Trump’s travel ban. Criticizing Kinzinger for this, LifeZette pointed out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had clarified that “Iraqi’s aiding the United States would be allowed to board their flights, are eligible for a special immigrant visa ‘and will be processed for a waiver upon arrival.’” And Breitbart, consistent with its coverage of Sweden, ran articles on asylum fraud in Germany and other Eurocentric immigration topics.

Posts about Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski were widely shared from conservative Facebook pages: