Fox Baselessly Stokes Fears That Busloads Are Immigrants Inundating Small Towns

Fox News host Bill Hemmer reported that “busloads of illegals” are inundating the small town of Murrieta, California, to stoke fears that immigrants are being sent to towns around the country indiscriminately. But U.S. Customs and Border Protection explained that the immigrants are being transported to other border patrol facilities to alleviate overcrowding and facilitate speedy processing of immigrants.

In June, the Los Angeles Times reported on unsanitary, overcrowded conditions at detainment centers in Texas and Arizona following an influx of unaccompanied minors into the country, necessitating transfers to other facilities.

On July 1, anti-immigrant protesters in Murrieta forced buses transporting immigrants from overcrowded facilities in Texas to reroute to other facilities.

During the July 7 edition of Fox's America's Newsroom, Murrieta Mayor Alan Long discussed the immigration protests in his town with Hemmer. During the discussion, Hemmer reported ominously that “busloads of illegals roll into the town of Murrieta” and asked Long, “How did we reach this point, where your small little bedroom community is inundated?” Long claimed to have no idea why border patrol would send immigrants to his “bedroom community of 106,000,” saying that “all of a sudden, the world showed up at our doorstep.” He also warned that “you can't just send them all over the country.”

But neither Hemmer nor Long mentioned the actual reason immigrants are being transported to Murrieta: there is a border patrol station two miles south of the city's center. The immigrants were being sent to Murrieta for processing because, as CNN.com reported, the South Texas facilities where the immigrants were “initially held ... are so overflowing that detainees are sent to other states for processing.”

CNN.com added that the government “is struggling to detain and accommodate an influx of undocumented immigrants,” as the government “doesn't have enough beds, food or sanitary facilities.” The New York Times reported that the immigrants in question “were expected to be processed in Murrieta before being placed under supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” After they were processed, “the immigrants were to be placed in a transition center run by a faith-based organization” in the area.