MS NOW Reporter Challenges Trump Border Patrol on Authority to Raid — Gets Stunning One-Word Response

MS NOW Senior Political and National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff challenged President Donald Trump’s Border Patrol on their authority to operate far from any border or coastline, and got a stunning one-word reply.

Trump’s deportation force has rolled out operations in a series of large American cities, where they have been met with stiff resistance from local officials and residents. The latest of these is Charlotte, North Carolina, where over 130 arrests were made over the weekend.

On Monday’s edition of MS NOW’s Deadline: White House, host Nicolle Wallace spoke to Soboroff as he reported on the crackdown live on the ground in Charlotte.

Asked what the legal rationale was for the Border Patrol’s actions, Soboroff revealed the one-word answer he got from the Department of Homeland Security — “Airport”:

WALLACE: Jacob, what is the legal rationale? I remember you giving me the convoluted legal rationale for being in Chicago because of Lake Michigan. I mean, you’re 170 miles from the nearest part of the coast.

SOBOROFF: Yeah.

WALLACE: Border Patrol isn’t even supposed to be there, are they?

SOBOROFF: The 100-mile rule is what Governor J.B. Pritzker told me the Border Patrol used to justify their presence in Chicago, even though Lake Michigan is not a border with Canada, nor does Lake Michigan touch Canada whatsoever. So I did text Tricia McLaughlin today from the Department of Homeland Security, the assistant secretary for public affairs, and asked her, under what authority is the Border Patrol operating in, running around apprehending landscapers and people on their way to work, all these scenes that we’ve seen play out, breaking windows of American citizens? And she wrote “airport” as a response. And so I said, is an airport a border? She asked me to follow up with the Department of Homeland Security for a more robust statement.

And in that statement, they — they cited all kinds of authorities that they say that the federal government has, including portions of the Immigration and Nationality Act and — and other authorities. But I think that that is a — I’m not an attorney. I’m not going to say it’s a legally dubious justification.

But I certainly think it’s going to — we have one right here, National Lawyers Guild observer. I may as well ask you. When you hear what i was just saying about the Border Patrol operating here, what do you make of the authorities under which they’re operating here in the Charlotte area?

TIM EMERY (ph), CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD OBSERVER: Well, first and foremost, I’m a criminal defense attorney, so…

(CROSSTALK)

SOBOROFF: So maybe not!

(LAUGHTER)

EMERY (ph): But it seems — it seems like a spurious claim to say that any port of entry, right, because there’s — we have airports in the middle of the country that receive…

SOBOROFF: All over the country.

EMERY (ph): … international flights, to call that a border is a bit — is pushing it.

SOBOROFF: Well, don’t take it from me. Take it from, what’s your name?

EMERY (ph): Tim Emery (ph).

SOBOROFF: Take it from Tim (ph), the criminal defense attorney who’s out here with the National Lawyers Guild, watching and making sure everybody stays safe — Nicolle.

Watch above via MS NOW’s Deadline: White House.