Bill O’Reilly says there’s one reason the Democrats in Washington are stalling on the latest federal spending bill – and it’s based on a misleading statistic.
The most recent continuing resolution expires Friday at midnight, and if that date passes without an agreement, the government will have to shut down – again.
“You know, we do this every two months, right?” O’Reilly said on Friday’s episode of “No Spin News.” “But here’s why they’re holding it up: because Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries really want to gut the Homeland Security apparatus and ICE in a specific way. They want to neutralize it so that Homeland Security will have a far more difficult time controlling undocumented migrants already in this country … OK, let me prove it to you.”
O’Reilly noted that that Schumer and Jeffries want certain conditions around ICE enforcement before they agree to continue funding the operation, including no masks for officers; judicial warrants for detainees, no enforcement near hospitals, schools or churches; and body cameras for agents.
He also noted that masks have already been adjudicated in California – “a federal judge says ICE agents can wear masks” – judicial warrants for “15 million illegal aliens” would be impossible and no-go zones “means in a city you could not have any enforcement.”
As for bodycams, “that’s a little murky — that any kind of action against migrants must be shared with local authorities, which of course gives the authorities the opportunity to tip off the migrants or the groups involved, which of course they would in the radical left states.”
All in all, O’Reilly said, “It’s not going to happen.”
“So the rational conclusion about all these demands is the Democratic Party doesn’t want any enforcement,” O’Reilly concluded. “They just don’t. They want amnesty. But that has been the position of the Democratic Party for decades — amnesty. Anybody here who’s not a criminal should be allowed to stay. But now it’s ‘violent criminal.’ This is the big lie. You ready for the big lie? Here it comes.”
O’Reilly noted the Democratic talking point going around is that only 14% of migrants that have been detained by ICE are violent criminals – then rolled video examples of operatives, including radio host Leslie Marshall, deploying it.
“That is misleading in the extreme,” O’Reilly said. “And I don’t know whether Leslie Marshall knows that or not, but she certainly hasn’t done her research. Now, that 14% figure comes from a CBS News report that is totally erroneous. Why? Well, here are the nonviolent crimes that don’t fall under the 14%: drug trafficking and use, DWI, all crimes of theft, all crimes of fraud. In addition, child pornography, endangerment and child trafficking are not considered violent crimes.”
O’Reilly said that means that migrant gangs who control drug trafficking operations wouldn’t be subject to ICE detention.
“Not violent. Nope,” he said. “See what the fraud is? You see what the big lie is? When people hear this, they go, ‘Oh, ICE is rounding up just poor farmers, poor hotel workers. Only 14% are violent criminals.’ What a lie.”
O’Reilly said the federal government’s own statistics show that 60% of undocumented people detained by Homeland Security have committed some kind of criminal offense.
“That is probably true,” he added. “Now, a criminal offense could be not showing up for a hearing. It could be a lot of things. But if you are here illegally — you have snuck in or overstayed your visa — and you commit any crime, any crime, out of here. Right? OK. So that’s what we’re dealing with here — a massive deception. And the press picks it up and runs.”
Watch O’Reilly’s entire monologue in the video clip above.
