Glenn Beck on migrants in detention centers: ‘They’re used to sleeping on the dirt’

A video clip from a recent exchange between Glenn Beck and his radio co-host Stu Burguiere is getting some attention for their disturbingly cynical take on the predicament of migrant asylum seekers housed in detention centers near the US-Mexico border.

At the outset of a clip flagged by Media Matters researcher Jason Campbell, Burguiere mentioned Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and sarcastically lauded him for sneaking in a cellphone during a tour of a border facility and capturing secretly recorded footage which was then passed to the media. According to reports, those touring the facility were asked to surrender their cellphones beforehand.

“What a brave man he is,” Burguire said in a mocking tone, which Beck echoed.

“But, you know what?” he continued. “All these terrible things happened, the only thing [Castro] was able to get though was a bunch of women sitting comfortably in sleeping bags. … But they were on the floor.”

According to Burguire, the situation in the detention centers must not be too bad since his daughter chooses to sleep on the floor nightly. Beck agreed with his co-host.

“Well, I think that you can make a case that they’re used to sleeping on the dirt outside,” Beck said, “on this, you know, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles of journey — they’re usually coppin’ a squat by a cactus, and now we’re forcing them to put a sleeping bag down on a clean floor.”

Burguire chimed back in with his sarcasm.

“If only there was some recourse for these people. If only there was some way for them to avoid these facilities — like, I don’t know, like, turning around and going the opposite direction back to their homeland.”

Regardless of one’s stance on immigration, the idea that asylum seekers escaping drug cartels that take over towns with the same brutality and terror of ISIS should just turn around and go home is grossly disconnected. Are all migrants escaping violence? No. Many are fleeing abject poverty, but a significant percentage of them are refugees of the drug war.

Interestingly, Beck didn’t always sound like this. As former Snopes managing editor Brooke Binkowski pointed out, there was a time when he took a softer tone on immigrants.

Maybe he realized that the empathy card doesn’t play well with his core audience.

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.