Jesse Watters slammed for saying he ‘can tell’ who is an ‘illegal immigrant’ just by looking at them
Fox News host Jesse Watters has been criticized for saying he “can tell” who is an “illegal immigrant” just by looking at them.
Speaking on talk show The Five on Tuesday, the commentator — who is being tipped to replace Tucker Carlson on Fox News’ prime-time slot — insisted he can see it because he’s a “town guy.”
Watters made the comments during a discussion on the top-rated debate show about how Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been bringing migrants to New York City since August.
The host’s comments went viral and users took to social media to express their disgust. One person accused Watters of “racial profiling,” another called the comments “sickening.”
One user wrote, “Now I saw a family desperate for money for food in the trash and my first thought was, ‘I bet I can make this a racist segment on my TV show.'”
The commenter said he can ‘see’ who is an ‘illegal immigrant’ as he is a ‘town guy’
Watters made the comments during a discussion on top-rated debate show The FIve
Watters’ comments were made during a discussion on The Five about migrants being sent from states like Texas or Florida to cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
They come as the pandemic-era policy known as Title 42, designed to help law enforcement remove illegal migrants quickly at the border, expires May 11.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams criticized Governor Abbott for “targeting” cities with black mayors in moving migrants elsewhere.
Watters said, “This is like a lawyer complaining that all these people come to them with problems. You signed up for that. You are a refuge.’
He continued, “It has nothing to do with race. Texas is full. Texas doesn’t even have a state income tax and they still pay for all these illegals. Millions of them.
“Is the mayor here complaining about a few thousand with more resources than any other city in the whole country? That is ridiculous.’
He then made the controversial remarks when referring to his journey to work at the Fox News Studios in New York City.
“On my way to work, I saw an illegal immigrant family digging through the trash looking for recyclables,” he said, prompting co-host Jessica Tarlov to ask him how he knew they were illegal.
“You notice that,” he said. ‘I can say! I am a city person. You don’t want me interfering, but I notice.’
Tarlov was seen shaking her head and saying, “For your sake…” before fading away as Watters continued to talk.
He said, ‘It’s the saddest thing to see, because they can’t work here. They came to work, but they can’t work here.
“The point is this: you have to be able to choose the people who come into the country based on needs. If you need this type of person, bring them in. But to say everyone comes in and then, oops, you know, now people are looking for a five cent bottle, that’s not right.
“And you can’t blame the guy in Texas. Joe Biden is the common denominator in all of this.”
Jesse Watters is the odds-on favorite to replace Tucker Carlson on Fox News’ primetime slot
New York Mayor Eric Adams criticized Texas officials for busting immigrants from the southern state
Watters’ comments came during a discussion on The Five about migrants being sent from states like Texas or Florida to cities like New York.
A member of the mayor’s immigration office speaks to migrants camped out in front of New York’s Watson Hotel
Watters is the current favorite to replace Tucker Carlson on Fox News’ primetime segment at 8 p.m., after the former host was abruptly fired on April 23.
The sharp-tongued conservative currently hosts Jesse Watters Primetime weeknights at 7 p.
m.
He’s risen through the network’s ranks in recent years, averaging nearly 1.9 million viewers on the Saturday night show Watters’ World, which ended in 2022.
Carlson was fired from Fox last Monday for reasons that are not entirely clear, but which may have been related to evidence presented to the Fox News board last month during the Dominion libel trial, or to the conduct of the host .
Fox News funnyman Greg Gutfeld today defended his ex-colleague Carlson when behind-the-scenes clips of Carlson making sexual comments were leaked by the press.
“Apparently everyone understands nonsense banter between segments, except for the hall monitor failures bitterly describing the lives of the much more successful ones,” he wrote.
It’s because Fox News’ ratings trailed MSNBC on Monday, a week after Carlson’s shock departure.
MSNBC beat its competitors with an average of 1.693 million total viewers and 176,000 in its key audience of 25-54.
Fox News averaged 1.598 million total viewers between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., and 164,000 viewers in the demo.
Greg Gutfeld defended his former colleague Tucker Carlson as behind-the-scenes videos from his sets continue to be leaked to the media
In April, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city was “devastated by the migrant crisis.”
The city is on a list of so-called sanctuary cities and currently houses 34,800 migrants in 112 reception centers. More than 56,000 migrants have arrived in the city in the past 12 months.
According to reports, between 10,000 and 13,000 migrants a day are expected to cross the southern border with the end of Title 42 restrictions.
Speaking about the situation in his monologue, Watters said President Biden was “like a bad manager who doesn’t do his job.
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“Then everyone on the staff is pointing the finger and whining about the other person,” he said.
“But if the manager just did his job, everyone could stay in their jobs. Texas could focus on Texas and New York could focus on New York.