‘Wait a Minute, Sir!’ Cavuto Clashes with House Democrat in Crosstalk-Riddled Segment on Biden’s Border Trip

Michael LucianoJan 10th, 2023, 7:13 pm

Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto tangled with Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) over President Joe Biden’s recent trip to the southern border with Mexico.

Cavuto noted Gonzalez accompanied Biden at the border on Sunday and that the city of El Paso moved migrants ahead of the visit and cleaned up the area. The city’s mayor maintains the measures were a matter of routine.

“Why was El Paso apparently so cleaned up?” Cavuto asked Gonzalez, noting there appeared to be no signs of migrants. “There had been talk that maybe Biden folks had cleared the streets or at others’ behest had done so. They deny that. But I’m still looking at this before and after, congressman, and confused as heck. Something and someone did that cleanup there. Just the day before, there were migrants all over the place. What happened?”

“People come in spurts,” Gonzalez responded. “It’s not a consistent flow of migrants.”

Cavuto asked Gonzalez why Biden did not engage with any migrants while at the border, which led to this exchange:

CAVUTO: He didn’t meet with migrants. That’s the source of the issue. And I’m just curious, why?

GONZALEZ: He met with the people who deal with the migrants that are coming across. He went to the locations where they cross–

CAVUTO: Wouldn’t want you to want to see the migrants, Wouldn’t you wanna see what’s behind this 2.5 million spurt of people coming across–

GONZALEZ: He knows what the migrants look like. We talk to him regularly.

CAVUTO: Of course he does. But the point of his trip, sir, was to see them for himself.

GONZALEZ: The migrants themselves? I don’t think that is gonna accomplish our goal. Our goal is to resolve the crossings. And for that, we need to talk to people who have policy ideas. And that’s the stakeholders. Talk to Border Patrol, talk to our Customs Agents–

CAVUTO: And he did that, but I find it odd, and I understand what you’re saying. You’re defending the president. I get that. But You have to see for yourself, Mr. President, what we’re dealing with here. He goes down to the border and he doesn’t see the migrants that they’re dealing with there.

GONZALEZ: But he did see where they cross, the process that they go through, the respite center where they stay, he spoke to the churches, he spoke to local governments. He spoke to the important stakeholders that know what the problem is and also know how to fix it. So, he did his job.

CAVUTO: I’m not saying that he deliberately said I’m not going to meet with migrants. You said he spoke to everyone who deals with the migrants and what they have to do daily, hourly basis to deal with this surge. And the president of the United States comes down there, doesn’t see them. He sees all the people who deal with them. I guess I’m still–

GONZALEZ: Hey, when–

CAVUTO: Wait a minute, sir! He went down there and didn’t see them. That was the whole point. It’s like going to a Giants game – if you like the Giants – and the Giants aren’t there.

GONZALEZ: Yeah, but this isn’t a Giants game. This isn’t a Giants game.

CAVUTO: This is a migrant game with 2.5 million getting through and hundreds of thousands more! You want to see them, right?

GONZALEZ: He talked to the agents that are processing them, he talked to the cities, the churches, the local officials who are dealing with the issue. He went right to the location–

CAVUTO: But congressman, you’ve seen the migrants. You’ve seen them again and again.

GONZALEZ: I live there. It’s very different.

CAVUTO: Wouldn’t it be in your interest to tell the president while you’re walking around with him, where the hell are the migrants?

GONZALEZ: I’ve brought members of Congress down on days where the migrants are there and it’s just the way it is. It’s up and downs. We have surges that last–

CAVUTO: But members of Congress are very different than the most powerful man on the planet, right? You want him to see it, right?

GONZALEZ: All I know is that when President Trump was coming down to my district, he never once went to visit migrants. I don’t know why nobody was critical of him for that.

CAVUTO: I don’t care whether it was President Trump or President Biden. I just find it odd.