MSNBC analyst Michael Steele shrugs off murder of girl during immigration debate: 'That's one out of 11 million'
MSNBC analyst and former RNC chair Michael Steele debated the president of the Heritage Foundation about immigration policy, arguing that an infamous murder was merely an isolated incident.
An MSNBC host was dismissive on Saturday after a conservative guest brought up the murder of a young girl by an illegal immigrant, appearing to suggest it was an isolated incident meant to smear immigrants more broadly.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts had a tense debate about deporting illegal immigrants with multiple MSNBC personalities. "So what do these people do, what are they doing now?" MSNBC host and former RNC Chair Michael Steele asked. "The folks, the 11 million, 20 million, whatever you want to deport?"
"A lot of them are committing crimes like murdering the 12-year-old girl in Houston," Roberts said, appearing to reference the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray that has become a national news story.
MSNBC host and former RNC chair Michael Steele questioned the idea of deporting millions of illegal immigrants, arguing that a nationally infamous murder is an isolated example.
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"So that’s one, that’s one, out of 11 million," Steele said.
"We could take the remaining time of this segment and I could give you a lot of examples-" Roberts said.
MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend interjected by citing a statistic arguing that "undocumented immigrants" were less likely to be convicted of a crime.
"Tell that to the survivors of these people," Roberts said, later asking "What do you tell the parents of those people, those young girls that were killed?
Steele then asked what the difference is between an "illegal" immigrant committing such a crime versus "anyone else" who commits the same crime, eventually being chastised by Sanders-Townsend for using the term "illegal." He went on to ask, "What you're saying is because you have this instance of individuals behaving badly that that's a reflection of every individual in that community and that’s just not the case."
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Sanders-Townsend later argued that she and MSNBC host Alicia Menendez would argue to Roberts, "You are weaponizing a horrific murder to smear 11 million people."
"That is a laughable assertion," Roberts replied. "What Joe Biden is doing is weaponizing the entire government against every American."
MSNBC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.