CNN anchor Brianna Keilar finally had enough of Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) repeatedly talking over her during a heated exchange over immigration on Tuesday, threatening to “cut the interview off” unless the congresswoman let her speak.
The pushback from Keilar came after the CNN News Central host attempted to fact-check the Texas lawmaker’s claims about immigrant crime rates, prompting Van Duyne to accuse Keilar of “defending” the band of migrants who recently brawled with New York City cops.
Ahead of House Republicans’ second attempt to impeach Homeland Security Chief Alejandro Mayorkas, Keilar brought on Van Duyne to explain why the GOP was going down this same road after “suffering a pretty embarrassing public defeat” in its failed effort last week. Republicans allege that Mayorkas has committed high crimes and misdemeanors over his handling of the southern border, claiming he wrongfully overhauled existing immigration law to institute “catch and release” protocols for migrants.
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Noting that the congresswoman had previously said “we don’t need new laws” when expressing her support for impeaching Mayorkas, Keilar asked why Van Duyne voted for HR 2—House Republicans’ sweeping border bill that would restrict the asylum process and purge undocumented immigrants.
After Van Duyne asserted that HR 2 “wasn’t a new law” but rather a “mechanism” to force the Biden administration “to stop ignoring laws,” the CNN anchor reminded her that when a bill is passed, it then becomes a law. “You’re saying that was never the intention? Are you saying it was a memo or something?” Keilar snarked.
Replying that HR 2 was about “codifying” immigration law that she claimed the administration was ignoring, Van Duyne said the “damage” that’s been caused by the nation’s current handling of immigration has led to the “deaths of tens of thousands of Americans.” Asked to clarify where she got her numbers from, the conservative lawmaker claimed 110,000 Americans have died from overdosing on fentanyl “that has come in over our borders.”
Keilar, however, pointed out that the vast majority of fentanyl that comes across the U.S.-Mexico border is brought in by American citizens, not migrants. Undeterred, the Texas Republican stated that the “Mexican cartels are the best friends of Mayorkas” and want to “keep him in power,” causing Keilar to again remind her that the cartels are using American citizens as drug mules.
Just as the back-and-forth grew tense, Keilar informed Van Duyne that President Joe Biden was about to speak and the network would be taking it live. Following the president’s speech, she brought the congresswoman back to resume their contentious conversation.
With the president urging Congress to pass a Senate bill that will provide aid to Ukraine and Israel, Keilar pointed out that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he won’t bring the legislation up for a vote because it doesn’t contain border security provisions.
“He’s talking about—what would be, if passed—new laws. He’s talking about new laws,” Keilar noted.
Reiterating her assertion that HR 2 was just about “codifying” existing immigration law that the administration has “flagrantly ignored,” Van Duyne then recalled her time as a mayor in Texas, claiming she made her city one of the safest in the state by working to “remove criminal illegal immigrants in our communities.” Meanwhile, Keilar pushed back on the congresswoman’s claims.
“First off, illegal immigrants’ criminal conviction rate is 45 percent below that of native-born Americans in your state. Just to be clear,” the CNN host declared. “When you raise the specter of ‘they create so many crimes, they’re convicted.’ I mean, when it comes to violent crimes, property crimes, homicides, sex crimes, you‘ve talked in the past about rapes, the numbers just don‘t support that, but let‘s focus on catch-and-release.”
At this point, Van Duyne and Keilar began to talk over each other, eventually leading the anchor to note that she “merely fact-checked something” the congresswoman said. “It sounds like you were defending those immigrants that were beating our police officers,” Van Duyne fired back.
“No! Excuse me, I did not say that,” Keilar retorted.
“It sounds like you are saying that’s OK. They should not be in our country,” the congresswoman stated.
“Ma’am, I absolutely do not think that is OK,” the anchor proclaimed. “And anyone watching that video, I think, should look at that and absolutely say that’s not OK. So yeah, I think you’re really misunderstanding where I’m coming from. No, that’s not OK.”
Attempting to pivot to a discussion on “catch-and-release,” Keilar brought up the Senate border bill that Republicans torpedoed and how that legislation would have drastically cut the number of asylum-seeking migrants who would be released after border apprehension. Van Duyne immediately began to argue with Keilar over the bill’s provisions, resulting in the host finally telling her guest that the segment would come to a close if she didn’t stop.
“Ma’am, may I please speak? I’m going to have to cut this—if you don’t let me speak, I’m going to have to cut this interview off,” Keilar flatly said, putting her foot down. “And I will let you speak and finish sentences. Please give me that respect as well.”
After the congresswoman demurred, Keilar went on to dispute Republicans’ false claims that the bill supposedly allows 5,000 illegal immigrants to cross the southern border daily, noting that it is a trigger number of apprehensions that would effectively shut down the border if reached. Keilar also pointed out that the head of the Border Patrol Union had endorsed the legislation.
The two would continue to go back and forth over the Senate border deal, with Van Duyne insisting that it would increase illegal border crossings to a “catastrophic level.” Keilar, on the other hand, said that while the “5,000 number may be unsatisfactory” to the congresswoman, it is “going to be much higher and allowed to be much higher because there is nothing to prevent it.”
