April 8, 2024

On Fox News, the Eclipse Is—Somehow—About Migrants

Mother Jones illustration; Fox News; Rafael Pacheco/La Nacion/ZUMA

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In a few hours, millions of people across North America will seize the rare opportunity to (hopefully safely) observe a total solar eclipse, when the moon covers the sun and darkens the skies for a few minutes. The Great American Eclipse will stretch from Mexico through parts of Texas all the way to Maine and into Canada, drawing curious beholders from as far as Beijing to Indianapolis. 

During such moments, one could be led to ponder things greater than our mere human experience: the cosmos, fate, and the vastness of the universe. Or, if you’re Fox News, you could do this:

“A rare celestial event collides with a policy failure on the ground,” anchor Dana Perino told viewers. “The southern border will be directly in the path of totality today when the moon covers the sun for nearly four minutes.” The eclipse, co-anchor Bill Hemmer then added, represents “a real opportunity for smugglers and cartels and migrants to come right in.” 

The truth about the “opportunity” is a bit less chaotic. There have been warnings of heavy traffic at both the border in the north and south because (of course) people are traveling to see the eclipse. There’s nothing particularly esoteric or conspiratorial about border-crossers making moves to try and catch a glimpse of the astronomical phenomenon.

Still, that didn’t stop Fox. They showed a map of the total eclipse’s path that transitioned into images from the weekend of supposed migrants in New Mexico, a Fox News reporter talked about “suspected cartels’ scouts and coyotes watch[ing] from a mountain above.” 

Fox News wasn’t alone in making the wild connection between the eclipse and migration to the southern border. In a segment with Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb, a Republican running for the US Senate, a Newsmax host asked if the over three-minute darkness following the eclipse posed “any concern that there could be a rush on the border during that time.” Sheriff Lamb, a frequent guest on the right-wing media circle and harsh critic of the Biden administration’s border policies, gave the only conceivable answer: “Look, it gets dark every night.” 

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