MSNBC's Morning Joe analyst Steve Rattner used a chart on Thursday to highlight a spike in immigration under President Joe Biden, noting President-elect Donald Trump "is not wrong when he talks about how border crossings were quite low" during his administration.
Why It Matters
The progressive outlet and the show are widely viewed as favorable to Democrats and President Biden, often calling out Trump's policies and remarks.
However, following the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump secured another term after beating out Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago—their first in-person meeting in seven years.
The move led to criticism and accusations of hypocrisy by some viewers. Scarborough said on a November broadcast explaining the trip, "Don't be mistaken. We are not here to defend or normalize Donald Trump."
Trump campaigned heavily on reducing immigration, enhancing border security, and increasing deportations. At several campaign rallies, he shared charts and graphs illustrating U.S. immigration trends, comparing his administration's record with Biden's.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump's press team and the White House for comment via email on Thursday.
What To Know
On a Thursday morning segment, Rattner displayed several graphs and charts analyzing the economy, the environment, and immigration over the years.
On immigration, he said: "The border was not Biden's finest moment, frankly. You can see what happened here. And Trump is not wrong when he talks about how border crossings were quite low [during his administration]. They were running about 74,000 a month when he left office. And they, in fact, did shoot up."
The graph on MSNBC shoots upwards under Biden, with several peaks and dips, reaching almost 300,000 a month at one point.
"But what maybe people don't entirely know is that border crossings have come back down almost to where they were under Trump. They're running at about 100,000 at the moment. So we went up the hill and we went down the hill. But unfortunately, that was pretty costly to Biden."
In November, crossings dipped below 100,000 for the first time during Biden's term. Biden made a major political pivot this year—instituting via executive order a sweeping crackdown on asylum requests ahead of the election.
Trump has promised American voters he will conduct the largest deportation program in U.S. history starting on "day one" of his second term. The president-elect has also promised to shut down the CBP One app, end the catch-and-release policy, and reinstate the Remain in Mexico program as part of his rigid immigration strategy.
Outside of immigration, Rattner applauded Biden on jobs, saying, "Biden really has created a huge amount of jobs, he created over 7 million jobs, about 165,000 a month during his term. And actually, more than Trump really, even before Covid...Biden was in fact a job's president."
He turned to other economic indicators, such as the S&P 500, saying, "In fact, interestingly enough, the S&P was up by almost identical amounts under Biden and Trump, 56 percent—so they both turned out to be great stock market presidents."
Biden has been repeatedly criticized for high inflation, which during it's peak reached over 9 percent. It has since fallen to around 2.7 percent.
What People Are Saying
Trump on Truth Social on Wednesday morning: "When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true.
"The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!"
House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Fox News Thursday morning regarding the New Orleans attack, in which the suspect is a U.S. citizen who reportedly supported ISIS: "We here in the House and the Senate have repeatedly asked the DHS under the Biden Administration about the correlation-- the obvious concern-- about terrorism and the wide open border. The idea that dangerous people were coming here in droves and setting up potentially terrorist cells around the country."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at Immigration Council, posted on X on Thursday: "Also, EVEN IF the truck had come through a port of entry from Mexico, the driver would have been required to present a visa, passport, or valid travel document. That's not an open border! So trying to associate it with migrants is just an act of complete and utter nonsense."
What Happens Next
Trump is set to take office January 20 and is expected to consider various immigration reform policies. His plans to crack down on undocumented immigration have broad support among his base, while his backing of H-1B visas for specialized foreign workers has caused tension within the party in recent weeks.
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