Conservative radio personality Ben Ferguson was slammed by a CNN host and co-panelist Saturday after suggesting that people who live on the US-Mexico border are in favor of the government seizing their land to build a wall.
While waiting for a Beto O'Rourke rally in El Paso, Texas, Ferguson said the former congressman-turned-presidential-candidate is "okay with alienating people" as he opposes Donald Trump's strict border policies.
Host Fredricka Whitfield noted that many property owners who live on the border are concerned that the government will seize their land via eminent domain — and the conservative pundit hit back, claiming there's "very few" people who've gone on the record with that criticism.
"That's actually not true," Democratic consultant and former MSNBC host Karen Finney responded.
"I've read a lot of stories, I've read a lot of accounts of property owners who don't like the idea of eminent domain," Whitfield added. "They don't even like that there's been surveying on their properties, asking for the potential of taking their land. That's pretty documented."
Ferguson said that while "some" landowners at the US-Mexico border, "the people that are most welcoming to show you what's happening and how the people are coming across are the people that own that land."
Those people, he added, are "in favor of border security" — a claim Whitfield and Finney immediately took to task.
"Not in favor of eminent domain," the host said, "not in favor of giving up their land or seeing their land taken away."
"We can't say that there's an overwhelming majority," Finney said. "There's no data point on that."
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