The Migrant Caravan: Are We Normalizing Racism?

The media has described them as "an army of migrants", "the caravan crisis", "an assault on America". Contrary to mainstream reporting, this "caravan" is made up of vulnerable men, women, and children fleeing violence and extreme poverty.

With the midterms around the corner, Mehdi Hassan speaks to Mexican–American journalist Jorge Ramos about the so-called immigration crisis and Trump's administration.

Even if all 7,000 people in the caravan make it across the border and claim asylum, that would only represent around 1% of all US asylum claims, says Hassan.

And yet the "liberal media" boosted Trump's message, reinforcing racism and leaving aside other major issues like ongoing attacks on healthcare, Trump's own history of tax fraud, or the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The 'caravan crisis' has also been used to divert focus from the real immigration crisis at the border: the so-called separation of migrant kids from their parents.

Hassan and Ramos discuss the family separations at the border and the lack of representation of the Latino community on the 'white' American media in perpetuating racism.