Media

Fox News pulls controversial Trump immigration ad

by Emily Birnbaum - 11/05/18 1:00 PM ET

Fox News on Monday announced that it has pulled President Trump’s controversial immigration advertisement from its airwaves.

Marianne Gambelli, president of ad sales at Fox News, told The Hill that the network on Sunday decided to pull the ad, which has been widely criticized for stoking anti-immigrant anxieties using false or misleading messages.

{mosads}”Upon further review, FOX News pulled the ad yesterday and it will not appear on either FOX News Channel or FOX Business Network,” Gambelli said in an emailed statement.

The ad has appeared on Fox networks multiple times in the past week.

NBC earlier on Monday announced that it would pull the ad after facing pushback for airing it during “Sunday Night Football.”

“After further review, we recognize the insensitive nature of the ad and have decided to cease airing it across our properties as soon as possible,” NBCUniversal said in a statement Monday morning.

The ad links the migrant caravan heading toward the southern border with Luis Bracamontes, a man accused of killing two police officers. The ad accuses Democrats of seeking to bring people like Bracamontes into the U.S., particularly through the caravan.

The ad connects increased immigration with increased levels of crime, though a number of studies have indicated there is not a link between the two. As immigrant populations in the U.S. have grown for decades, violent crime in the country has declined.

Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave Trump “four Pinocchios” for a claim in the ad that Democrats brought Bracamontes back into the country.

A review of court records by the Post reveals his case was handled primarily by Republicans.

CNN over the weekend ripped the ad as “racist,” saying the network declined the opportunity to be paid to air the ad.

“CNN has made it abundantly clear in its editorial coverage that this ad is racist,” CNN communications tweeted. “When presented with an opportunity to be paid to take a version of this ad, we declined. Those are the facts.”

Trump has homed in on the migrant caravan ahead of the midterm elections, calling it an “invasion” even as reports indicate its numbers are dwindling significantly and it is hundreds of miles from the border.

Tags Donald Trump