EXCERPT:
SCIUTTO: “Referring there to the nearly 7,500 migrants marching their way north through Mexico. CNN special correspondent Bill Weir has been traveling with that caravan. He joins us now from Huixtla, Mexico. So, Bill, the President makes these claims about Middle Eastern terrorists and unidentified Middle Easterners, as well as gang members, et cetera. You’re in the midst there. What have you seen makes up this group of migrants?”
WEIR: “Well, I’ll put it this way, Jim. Ginning up fear of the stranger is a tactic that’s as old as politics. That’s what makes the teachings of Christ to welcome the stranger so radical, that’s what makes the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal such a radical idea, the concept of America. These folks, 7,000 now, how do you know the hearts of all of them? They’re human beings. But what I have witnessed is just touching humanity. People who are fleeing desperation at home with no other choice and are thinking about their children, wanting what most of us want, a better future for them. And you see it played out again and again. Here is another example. These are local Mexicans who just came to the square to feed these folks as they pass north. And today they are staying in this town about 50 miles north of the border to honor one of their own who died yesterday, who fell off a truck overcrowded as they all packed their way north. So, yeah, the insinuation in his tweet about unknown Middle Easterners, we know what that means. That means terrorists so that, again, implicates a whole other group of people unfairly in that way. But these folks, they’re oblivious. And if they do know about the President’s tweet, it’s going to take a lot more than that to stop them.”
SCIUTTO: “Bill, when you talk to them about the President’s comments and accusations, how do they react? How do they feel about that?”
WEIR: “With exasperation. I’ll give you an example here. I met a young man, one of the volunteers who helps protect these people and encourages them to clean up their trash and whatnot. I told him, ‘The leader of the country you are headed towards wants to paint you as terrorists and criminals, and here’s what he said.’”
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MIGRANT (in Spanish): “We are an honorable people. We are workers. You call a group of kids terrorists? A group of women who need help? We’re asking for his support. Of course, we know he has no conscious. He is crazy.”