Deliberate misleading the public about "terrorist threat" at our southern border.

If you listen to President Trump talking about the "need for a wall" because of the "national security threat" at our southern border;  if you listened to Secretary of Homeland Securitgy Kirstjen Nielsen at Trump's press briefing in the Rose Garden a few days ago claim there had been over 3,000 terrorists trying to enter;  if you paid attention to what Vice President Mike Pence told the Washington Post last October (that we "apprehended more than 10 per day" of "terrorists or suspected terrorists at our southern border") -- you'd get the impression that we have a big problem that needs to be fixed right away -- Right?

It's all false.    And Fox News host Chris Wallace called press secretary Sarah Sanders on it when she appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and tried repeating the same lies.    What's more, Wallace used the administration's own data to challenge her claims -- the same claims being peddled by Trump, Nielsen, and Pence.

Wallace asked Sanders about Nielsen's claim in the Rose Garden, where she had said the Customs and Border Protection "has stopped over 3,000 what we call 'special-interest aliens' trying to come into the country in the southern border.   Those are aliens who the intel community has identified are of concern."

I was watching the briefing live on TV;  I heard her say it.   And, although I had heard that the administration was making claims that had been refuted by others, I didn't know the true facts.   And nobody -- most especially the president, standing there -- corrected her.   In fact, she said what she said because he had called on her to explain the threat and why we must have The Wall that he insists we need.

OK.   Now back to Sunday morning and Chris Wallace and Sarah Sanders.  Quoting from the CBS News report:

"Wallace pointed out that special-interest aliens are those hailing from 'countries that have ever produced a terrorist.  They're not terrorists themselves."   Wallace cited a State Department report stating there is 'no credible evidence' of terrorists crossing the border with Mexico."

Mind you, this is taking place on Fox News, where Chris Wallace sometimes stands up and speaks the truth to power.    Sanders came back with her once-removed claim:  "We know that roughly, nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border," she said.

First, let's be clear what Wallace revealed about this category "special-interest aliens."   If, say, a single terrorist from Somalia has ever been caught trying to enter the U.S., then everybody from Somalia is put on this watch list and called a "special-interest alien."   That's it.    No other reason required.    That's the source of the 4,000 people they're talking about -- anybody from a country that's produced one terrorist trying to enter our country.

Then Wallace said he had "studied up" on these statistics;  and he asked Sanders.   "Do you know where those 4,000 people come [from], where they're captured?   Airports," he said.

Sanders then backed down.  "I'm saying that they come by air, by land and by sea.   I'm not disagreeing with you that they're coming through airports."

OK.   If you admit that most of them come through airports, then why do we need to build a wall between us and Mexico?

OK.   So here are the stats, quoted by Wallace, from the Departments of Justice and from Homeland Security:    In fiscal year 2017, 2,554 people on the FBI's terrorist screening list were stopped trying to enter the country.   The majority -- 2,170 -- attempted to come through airports;   49 attempted to enter by sea.

Of the 335 attempting to enter by land, the State Department said it had no indication that any terrorists had tried entering the U.S. through Mexico.    There is also no credible evidence that international terrorists groups have bases in Mexico, or that they have worked with Mexican drug cartels, or that they have sent operatives through Mexico into the U.S.    That's our own State Department's statement.

But President Trump tells this bizarre tale about terrorists just driving right up along the border wall where it's built in California and Arizona, then when they come to where the wall ends, they just "turn left" and drive right into our country.

He's lying.   And Kirstjen Nielsen must know he's lying.   And Vice President Pence must know he's lying, and so must Sarah Sanders -- and they just go along with him, repeating the lies to please him.

It's time someone called them out.   And Wallace, a Fox News anchor, had the opportunity with Sanders (none of them come on MSNBC) -- and he called her on it. 

Ralph