Fox News host criticised for ‘disturbing’ claim about immigrants

Jesse Watters facing backlash for ‘stigmatisation of immigrants’ and people of colour

Fox News host Jesse Watters has sparked a backlash after he claimed that he could tell at a glance whether an immigrant in New York was an illegal or not.

The host of The Five made the claim on Tuesday during a discussion on immigrants where he claimed he saw a family of “illegal immigrants”.

“I saw on the way into work an illegal immigration family digging through the trash looking for recyclables,” he said.

When co-host Jessica Tarlov asked to explain how he knew they were illegal, the Fox News host simply insisted that he "can tell" because he's "a city guy".

“You can tell. I’m a city guy. You don’t want me to get into it, but I can tell,” he said in an answer that left even his colleagues unconvinced.

“It’s the saddest thing to see because they’re not able to work here. They came to work, but they’re not able to work here,” he continued.

Many have criticised Mr Watters’s comments, stating that it is impossible to identify someone’s immigration status based on their appearance alone.

Immigrant advocates have also argued that these comments contribute to the stigmatisation of immigrants and people of colour.

“Fox News’ Jesse Waters just made a disturbing claim tonight, saying ’I saw on the way in to work an illegal immigration family digging through the trash looking for recyclables’,” wrote independent journalist Ed Krassenstein.

“This is propaganda. You can’t tell the difference between illegal immigrants and legal immigrants. The vast majority of immigrants entering legally or illegally are coming here because they want to make a life for themselves and their families. They want the same opportunities that we have from birth,” he said.

“On top of the racial profiling Jesse Watters is arguing here for selective immigration,” wrote a user named Eric Kipnis on Twitter.

“This is nothing more than a straw man for ‘we only want highly educated white Europeans to come here.’ This is racist crap.”

“Jesse Watters is auditioning for the Tucker Carlson 8:00 pm ‘white nationalist’ slot at Fox News. How do I know? I can tell,” wrote actor Billy Baldwin.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Watters and Fox News for a statement.

His comments come as Texas governor Greg Abbott faced criticism for busing migrants into the city since last August, including New York.

Mayor Eric Adams criticised Mr Abbott for "targeting" cities with Black mayors, a remark that Watters dismissed.

Watters argued that the issue was not race but rather the need for the country to choose who comes in based on their needs.

He stated that people who come to work in the US should be chosen based on their abilities and that the current policy of allowing everyone in and then having them dig through trash for recyclables is "not right".

“The point is this: you have to be able to choose the people that come into the country based on needs. If you need this type of person, bring them in,” the Fox News host said.

“But to just say everybody come 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 down in Texas for that.”

“Joe Biden is the common denominator for all of this,” he continued.

The White House has announced that it is preparing to send 1,500 troops to the border ahead of an expected surge of migrants, as the Trump-era policy called Title 42 is set to end on 11 May.

Mr Abbott's decision to bus migrants into cities has been seen as retaliation against the Biden Administration's opposition to this policy.

However, Mayor Adams has accused Abbott of targeting cities with Black mayors.