Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade defended President Trump on Friday by pointing out that while his harsh “zero tolerance” policy may have resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents at the southern border, at least the kids affected aren’t Americans.

“Like it or not, these aren’t our kids. Show them compassion, but it’s not like he’s doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas,” he said. “These are people from another country.”

Host Ainsley Earhardt replied by saying that Trump “just wants to make sure we vet who’s coming across the border, in case it’s MS-13 or drugs.”

A short time later, host Steve Doocy expressed hope that “by the grace of God, something will happen in Congress” on immigration policy “one way or the other.” (Family separations have resulted from a policy implemented by Trump that he had the power to end at any time.)


But at roughly the same time as Doocy was expressing that sentiment, Trump tweeted that “Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November.”

Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018

Trump, of course, has also frequently used dehumanizing language about undocumented immigrants, referring to them as “animals” who will “infest” the country. The White House has gone as far as to distribute an official press release referring to MS-13 members as “animals” 10 separate times.

About an hour after Kilmeade explicitly dehumanized immigrant children, Geraldo Rivera called out Fox & Friends for their coverage of the family separation issue.

Geraldo calls out Fox & Friends for their family separation coverage, apologizes for his part "We, particularly at F&F .. we were too slow to recognize the hideous nature of this policy .. I think we dropped the ball, I apologize for it, we should have spoken out more fervently" pic.twitter.com/pnv2RUqHHm — Lis Power (@LisPower1) June 22, 2018

Kilmeade wasn’t part of that discussion.

UPDATE (6/22, 1 p.m.) — Kilmeade posted tweets attempting to clarify his comments.

On FOX & Friends earlier, Of course-I didn’t mean to make it seem like children coming into the U.S. illegally are less important because they live in another country. I have compassion for all children, especially for all the kids separated from their parents right now. 1 of 2 — Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) June 22, 2018