In an appearance on “MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle,” CNBC contributor Ron Insana slammed President Trump’s immigration policies, comparing them to “ethnic cleansing.”
“I hesitate to use this expression, but it almost feels like a little ethnic cleansing is going on in the United States right now,” said Insana. “People of color are in danger here and this is something that disturbs me greatly.”
Insana’s genocide reference went unchallenged by Ruhle.
“Doesn’t that blow your mind, that we’re even saying that?” she said.
MSNBC contributor and The Root politics editor Jason Johnson added that the president was pursuing what he called a “white nationalist agenda.”
“If you listen to what Richard Spencer, Stephen Miller, Sebastian Gorka, what these guys are saying when the president says, ‘I don’t want people from excrement-hole countries, but I want people from Norway,’ that’s the only way you can interpret it,” he said on the show.
“Their goal is to make America inhospitable for people of color and make them leave and prevent other people from coming in.”
The discussion came after Ruhle brought up the story of Miguel Perez Jr., a green card holder who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and is now facing deportation following a felony drug conviction.
“I want to put a face on where this is now,” she said. “An Army veteran, a green card holder who has been in the United States since he was 8 years old, is facing deportation because of a felony drug conviction,” she said.
“This man served two tours of duty — I believe in Afghanistan — he’s about to go on a hunger strike over it. Stories like this guy’s, will these effect Republicans when they go home?”
A CNBC rep did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.