Fox News host Laura Ingraham is getting criticized and mocked for telling desperate asylum seekers to apply “in the safety of your home country.”
That’s not how the law works.
In fact, the U.S. Government’s website for asylum seekers literally says, “STEP ONE: Arrive in the U.S.”
It explains, “To apply for asylum in the U.S., you must be physically present in the U.S. or seeking entry into the U.S. at a port of entry.”
Ingraham began the segment on her show Wednesday night by saying, “Girls are being abused, raped, and in some cases trafficked as part of these caravans,” she said, referring to the groups of people fleeing violence, gangs, and drugs in countries like Honduras and Guatemala.
“It is despicable what is happening to these young people,” Ingraham added.
“Congress needs to get its head out of the sand and stop this madness once and for all. If someone crosses the border illegally, with rare exception, they should be turned back immediately,” she demanded – right after noting these same people “are being abused, raped, and in some cases trafficked.”
“If you want to apply for asylum, that’s fine. But you should do so in the safety of your home country,” Ingraham insisted, ignoring current law, and the obvious fact that these people are fleeing their countries because they are in imminent danger. There is no “safety of your home country” in these cases.
This is the same Laura Ingraham who last year defended the Trump administration’s concentration camps for children in the desert by calling them “summer camps.”
Many, including the Media Matters researcher who posted the clip below, also noted that Ingraham was donning ashes on her forehead for Ash Wednesday, accusing her of religious hypocrisy.
Here’s Ingraham:
Just amazing seeing Laura Ingraham, obviously fresh out of Ash Wednesday Mass, demand that asylum seekers be shipped to Mexico pic.twitter.com/Z2EY9FVbWh
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) March 7, 2019
And here’s how many are responding:
That’s not how this works. YOU MUST BE IN THE US TO APPLY FOR ASYLUM.
Ingraham is willfully ignorant. https://t.co/4g6b1n5Jmi https://t.co/EucHJ5hITU
— Samantha Kramer (@Sammyjkramer) March 7, 2019
Ingraham makes a statement reflecting total ignorance, lack of comprehension, on what Asylum is. People fleeing their country for Asylum in the USA are in fear of their LIVES!! Doing it in their home country is courting their own murders by their home country political paramil https://t.co/4OIK6PSNPM
— Jeffrey Silverman (@JeffGovCon) March 7, 2019
The worst part is that she’s not a moron.
She knows this not only runs counter to existing US & UN laws, but that it makes no sense. Further, Ingraham knows that by championing this idea she is directly causing conflict, hardship, and death.
The cruelty is the point.
— Sean (@DailyChef7) March 7, 2019
Paraphrased: “If you’re fleeing violence and imminent death, you should really stay put and do the thing you can’t actually do there since asylum doesn’t work that way.” https://t.co/IkeDK3foB6
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 7, 2019
Ummm, yeah, right, Laura Ingraham, because the best thing to do if you are being persecuted in “the safety of your home country” is to go to some government office to declare you are applying for asylum. #Bozo. @JasonSCampbell @parkermolloy
— Maggie Walker (@mlwlouky59) March 7, 2019
Pssst! She knows what she is saying. Ingraham is a mega xenophobe.
— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) March 7, 2019
Ingraham possibly thinks when a person requires asylum due to their lives being at risk will sell up all their belongings, apply for travel docs & tickets, tell everyone they’re leaving have a big party an set off for the US. How completely she misunderstands people plights. https://t.co/ZcQEcY27CW
— Bebe (@Bebe111) March 7, 2019
Also, Yazidis and Christians in the Middle East. They didn’t even have a country much less a “safe country” by that won’t compute in Ingraham’s hateful and minimized brain.
— Thoughts for My Head (@ThoughtsForMyHd) March 7, 2019
Dear @IngrahamAngle
If your house were on fire, would you stay in the “safety of your home” and wait for the fire department to arrive? #FoxLogic
— j howe (@howe_howell) March 7, 2019
What a stupid take from a so-called experienced journalist!#ingraham doesn’t understand the fundamental problems of immigration of those applying for asylum! https://t.co/OJ44KdwL9l
— SKRATH (@stekelrat) March 7, 2019
Laura Ingraham, on Ash Wednesday, to the guy wandering in the desert for 40 days – walk it off!
— ᴀʀᴛʜᴜʀ (@__Arthur_Dent__) March 7, 2019
RELATED STORIES:
WATCH: DEFIANT WHITE NATIONALIST LAURA INGRAHAM TRIES TO WALK BACK RACIST RANT – FAILS MISERABLY
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER