Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov tore into President Donald Trump on Tuesday for how he’s handled immigration, claiming he has once again “ceded control” of the issue to top aide Stephen Miller.
The Five guest panelist Emily Compagno touted an NBC News poll released on Sunday that showed 51 percent support for Trump’s handling of immigration. But Tarlov told her fellow panelists that the poll represented just a slim majority within the margin of error. The narrow approval, after years of much wider gaps, reflected a broader frustration with ICE’s aggressive pursuit of undocumented immigrants, Tarlov argued.
The token liberal host highlighted how Trump had planned to steer ICE agents away from people in the farming and hospitality sectors—“like he used to employ a lot of people at his properties,” Tarlov quipped—after pressure from leaders like agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins—until the Department of Homeland Security ultimately reversed course once again.
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“It seems like Stephen Miller is back in charge,“ Tarlov said. ”It’s a bad thing for the country and a bad thing for the president’s immigration policy because that flies in the face of where public opinion is. I don’t know why Trump has completely ceded control to Miller in terms of this, but it’s not a good look and it’s not going to go well with the governors who run states that have a lot of these people that keep them in business—big agriculture states, states with hotels, leisure, etc."
The critique came hours after ICE agents arrested New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander for demanding agents present a warrant at an immigration court. Lander was released later on Tuesday and all charges were dropped.
“What’s going on with Brad Lander who was accompanying a migrant to an immigration hearing—and he has done this a few times—is broadly speaking where the American people are,“ Tarlov added. ”If somebody is going about this the right way, if they have been in this country and they have not committed a crime, have not been convicted of something, they should be able to stay here or at least to get their due process. I think the images of agents pulling a candidate for mayor and comptroller aside are going to be very resonant with folks.”
