CNN’s Chris Cuomo took his 9 p.m. show away from the climate-controlled New York studio yesterday, and down to Hidalgo, Texas, located at the U.S.-Mexico border.
All of this comes as President Trump is pushing to close down the Southern border.
Cuomo gave viewers a unique look into what’s happening on the ground, or what he (and those with whom he spoke) feel what’s not happening. He and a number of those he interviewed called what’s happening in Washington “shameful inaction.”
“We are always ready to take the show out of the studio when we feel the story requires it,” Cuomo Prime Time ep Melanie Buck told TVNewser. “With the border crisis, it’s difficult to understand the magnitude of what’s happening on the ground unless you see it for yourself. That’s why we went to Tijuana in November and why we went back, this time to the Rio Grande Valley, yesterday. When there’s a big news story that we feel is important and Chris is passionate about, we will cover it.”
Cuomo spoke at length with deputy chief patrol agent Raul Ortiz of the U.S. Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley, who said repeatedly that his team is incredibly stretched for resources and needs Washington to do something.
“Here’s what happens every day, all day here.”
.@chriscuomo travels with Dep. Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz of the US Border Patrol into the Rio Grande Valley to take a look at the realities of the crisis on the Southern border. pic.twitter.com/ACev9SHmV7— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) April 2, 2019
Cuomo later went to a border camp, where he spoke with a nun, moms, dads and their kids.
Cuomo also interviewed Congressman Adriano Espaillat, a former undocumented immigrant, on why Democrats have not scheduled a single hearing this week for the situation at the border.
Whose idea was it to send Cuomo and the 9 p.m. team down to the border?
“Chris and I have discussed going back for awhile,” said Buck. “Chris is in regular communication with people on the border and they indicated the situation was only getting worse, and they need real help. All our bosses at CNN are extremely supportive of our covering this story and encouraged us to go.”