Murdoch To Attend Immigration Forum To Mark “Role Of Immigrants In Our Economic Successes”

Politico: "Bloomberg To Hold Immigration Forums With Murdoch, Daley." Politico reported that the Partnership for a New American Economy will host forums in Chicago and Boston on The Economics and Politics of Immigration and will be attended by News Corporation chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. From the press release announcing the forum:

On August 14th, the Partnership for a New American Economy will host forums in Chicago and Boston on The Economics and Politics of Immigration. The Chicago forum will be a discussion between Partnership Co-Chair and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and former White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley, moderated by Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC. The Boston forum will be a discussion between Mayor Bloomberg and News Corporation CEO and Partnership Co-Chair Rupert Murdoch, moderated by Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal. The forums will be wide-ranging discussions on the role of immigrants in the American economy, the need for sensible reforms that could create new American jobs, and the fractured political debate that has prevented immigration reform legislation from passing.

[...]

In addition, the Partnership for a New American Economy will release a new report “Open for Business,” on the increasingly important role of immigrants in starting new businesses of all sizes and in all sectors. [Politico, 8/9/12]

But Murdoch's Fox News Regularly Demonizes Immigrants And Uses Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric

Fox's History Of Using Loaded Term “Illegals” To Describe Undocumented Immigrants:

Fox News Greeted The Supreme Court Decision On A Controversial Arizona Immigration Law By Smearing “Illegals.” During a discussion of a Supreme Court decision that struck down much of an Arizona anti-immigrant statute, Laura Ingraham dubiously claimed that “13 or 12 people a day who are killed under DUIs by illegals -- those people would be alive if our immigration laws were enforced.” [Media Matters, 6/25/12]

Fox Used “Illegals” Slur While Covering Election Returns. While covering election returns in the Arizona and Michigan Republican presidential primary elections, Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum claimed that Mitt Romney has had “a tough stance on illegals.” [Fox News, America's Election HQ, 2/28/12]

Fox's Cavuto Slurred Undocumented Students As “Illegals.” During the June 11 edition of Your World, host Neil Cavuto complained that “illegals” were eligible for tuition discounts at Colorado colleges. Cavuto opened the segment by saying, “Here's one way to lower your college tuition: become an illegal immigrant.” [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 6/11/12]

Fox's Wallace Used The Term “Illegals” During A GOP Presidential Debate. At a September 22, 2011, Republican presidential debate, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said to Mitt Romney: “You vetoed legislation to provide in-state tuition rates to the children of illegals.” Wallace also said to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, “more than 16,000 children of illegals” paid in-state tuition in Texas in 2010.  [Media Matters, 9/23/11]

Special Report's Bret Baier Used Loaded Term “Illegals.” Bret Baier, who anchors Fox's premiere news show Special Report, used the word “illegals” to describe unauthorized immigrants in the United States, saying that a Supreme Court decision upholding an Arizona immigration law would have the effect of “penalizing businesses for hiring illegals.” [Media Matters, 5/28/11]

For more on Fox's use of the term “illegals,” click here, here and here. 

Fox's History Of Using Racist Term “Anchor Baby”:

Eric Bolling Slurred The Children Of Unauthorized Immigrants As “Anchor Babies.” Discussing CNN's Republican presidential primary debate, Fox host Eric Bolling used the term “anchor babies” to refer to the children of unauthorized immigrants. Introducing Rep. Louie Gohmert, Bolling stated: “With me now is Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, who has been at forefront of [the] anchor babies debate.” Bolling later used the term “illegal” to refer to an undocumented immigrant. [Media Matters, 6/22/11]

Lou Dobbs Used “Anchor Babies” Slur While Talking About Birthright Citizenship. On his Fox Business show, Lou Dobbs hyped a Rasmussen poll suggesting birthright citizenship should be revoked, saying, “61 percent say that a child born in the United States to a woman who is in this country illegally should not automatically become a citizen, so-called anchor babies.” [Fox Business, Lou Dobbs Tonight, 5/10/11]

Brian Kilmeade: “Anchor Babies” Is “The Term Used to Describe Newborns Whose Parents Are Illegal Immigrants.” Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said in support of an immigration-related bill in Arizona:

KILMEADE: The Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee has just passed a bill denying citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants in the United States. I sense a blowback. The Birth Right Citizenship Bill now moves to Arizona's full senate. Supporters of the measure say “anchor babies,” the term used to describe newborns whose parents are illegal immigrants, are a drain on Arizona's already strained social services and resources. Republicans are hoping the law will lead to a review of the 14th amendment by the Supreme Court. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 2/23/11]

For more on Fox's use of the term “anchor baby,” click here and here.

Fox's Immigration Coverage Is One-Sided

REPORT: In Immigration Coverage, Fox Shuns Pro-Immigrant Voices.  After Murdoch previously claimed that Fox News is not “anti-immigrant,” Media Matters did an analysis of Fox News guests from April 2010 to June 2011 and found that of the guests Fox chose to discuss immigration, an overwhelming majority took anti-immigrant positions or held anti-immigrant views. In fact, our data showed that anti-immigrant guests outnumbered those with a pro-immigrant point of view by a 3-to-1 margin.

[Media Matters, 10/27/11]

On Fox, Immigrants Are Synonymous With Criminality. Of the 1,697 Fox News guest appearances detailed in the Media Matters analysis, 69 percent were prompted to discuss border security or other immigration enforcement measures. When crime, including border violence and other stories dealing with criminality, were factored in, these constituted 78 percent of the total immigration discussions. By contrast, a paltry 11 percent of appearances was spent discussing immigration policy, including comprehensive immigration reform. [Media Matters, 10/27/11]

Fox Has A History Of Giving A Platform To Extremist Anti-Immigrant Groups

Fox News Latino And FoxNews.com Gave Platform To Two Anti-Immigrant Group Heads To Comment On AZ Immigration Bill. On June 25, Fox News Latino's politics section published a piece by Dan Stein in which the frequent Fox guest and president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) declared the Supreme Court's ruling on the Arizona immigration law a “victory” for Arizona and criticized the Obama administration's use of prosecutorial discretion to postpone deportation proceedings of certain undocumented workers in order to prioritize the removal of others. FAIR has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. On the same day, FoxNews.com published an opinion piece by Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA. Beck heralded the ruling as an opportunity for other states to “follow Arizona's lead” in enforcing immigration laws “in the way that Congress intended, even if the president insists on violating those laws.” [Media Matters, 6/26/12]

Fox Turned To Anti-Immigrant Hate Group FAIR To Ask Presidential Debate Question. During the September 2011 Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox News and Google, moderators looked to FAIR to ask the first question on immigration. [Media Matters, 9/23/11]

Fox & Friends Hosted Phil Kent Of Americans For Immigration Control To Discuss Undocumented Students. On May 14, 2010, Fox News' Fox & Friends hosted Phil Kent of Americans for Immigration Control (AIC) and the American Immigration Control Foundation (AICF), a group that has ties to white nationalists and “sells ... publications authored by racists and anti-immigrant figures who routinely demonize immigrants,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. Moreover, Kent himself has a history of inflammatory rhetoric, including asserting that Barack Obama is a “dangerous, anti-white multiculturalist.” [Media Matters, 5/18/10]

On Fox, Mothers Against Illegal Aliens' Founder Said The Job Of Illegal Immigrants' Children Is “To Dumb Down The American Children And Overpopulate Our Schools.” During the May 19, 2006, edition of Fox News' Your World, Michelle Dallacroce, the founder of Mothers Against Illegal Aliens, asserted that there is no reason that we have to have immigrant women and children in the United States, since there are no jobs for the women and the children to do “other than the children's job is to dumb down the American children and overpopulate our schools.” [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 5/19/06]

Fox Has Repeatedly Attacked Hispanic Civil Rights Group

Hannity Falsely Claimed National Council Of La Raza “Has Called For Mexico To Annex Southwestern States.” On the February 26, 2009, edition of his Fox News show, Hannity falsely claimed that the National Council of La Raza “has called for Mexico to annex southwestern states.” In response, the president of NCLR demanded an “immediate on-air correction.” [Media Matters, 10/1/10]

Dobbs Blasted NCLR As An “Open-Border And Amnesty Group That Has Pushed Illegal Immigrants To Brazenly Defy U.S. Law.” Reporting on the appointment of Muñoz to a position in the Obama administration, Dobbs stated:

DOBBS: The president is in full campaign mode now. President Obama, this week, pandering to a key voting block, appointing a former amnesty lobbyist to head up his domestic policy council, Cecilia Munoz -- former executive vice president of La Raza, a open-border and amnesty group that has pushed illegal immigrants to brazenly defy U.S. law while demanding concessions from the federal government. [Fox Business, Lou Dobbs Tonight, 1/11/12]

O'Reilly Called NCLR “A Pretty Radicalized Group” That Opposes “Any Kind Of Border Security.” During an interview of Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Fox host Bill O'Reilly called the National Council of La Raza “a pretty radicalized group” that doesn't “like any kind of border security.” [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 7/27/11]