I found some steel slats down on the border. But I don’t see anything resembling a national emergency situation.. at least not in the McAllen TX area of the border where Trump will be today. pic.twitter.com/KRoLdszLUu — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019

Jim Acosta is drawing ridicule after posting what might be a counterintuitive video of himself on the U.S. southern border Thursday.

The CNN White House correspondent is in Texas to cover President Donald Trump‘s trip down south amid the government shutdown and the battle over funding for a border wall. As it were, Acosta found some steel slats of the kind Trump’s been promoting lately on the outskirts of McAllen, and he remarked that it doesn’t look like the town has succumbed to the “national emergency” the White House has been talking about recently.

Here’s some of the other posts Acosta has made, saying local residents aren’t feeling particularly threatened:

Folks in McAllen have put up a sign reminding Trump that this is one of the safest places in America. https://t.co/r8W3oopy3F — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019

Jose has lived here in the McAllen TX area his whole life. He also tells me it is very safe here. pic.twitter.com/GHRlW8nKf4 — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019

Nadine has lived in the McAllen area about a decade. She says it’s safe here and hasn’t seen people coming across the border causing crime and mayhem. pic.twitter.com/EIaFAYhHgR — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019

While Acosta is obviously suggesting that the country’s illegal immigration “crisis” has been overblown by Trump, people are taking note of the fact that he shot his video in a town protected by a barricade. Even if its not exactly a wall per se like Trump has been calling for for most of his political life, political observers are taking cracks at Acosta, saying the slats probably have something to do with the fact that McAllen isn’t overrun by criminal aliens.

It’s almost as though having steel slats might help prevent illegal immigration where you’re filming, dolt. https://t.co/OIpdcvgv5T — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 10, 2019

Today Jim Acosta went to a part of the border that has the slat fence Trump wants, looked around for a few minutes, said “I don’t see an emergency!” and then celebrated his sick own with some BK. https://t.co/oysiKG1K6S — Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) January 10, 2019

Er, you found a place where there is a barrier and all is quiet? Jim, do you know what point you’re actually making here? https://t.co/YbZfYtyO5P — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 10, 2019

Presumably, Jim, the counter-argument would be that you don’t see “a national emergency situation” precisely because there’s a wall of the sort that those you’re criticizing want to extend. — Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) January 10, 2019

Jim Acosta just posted one of the biggest self owns ever. He’s walking along the border where there’s a wall in place talking about how there’s nothing that “resembles a national emergency situation” and “there’s no migrants trying to rush.” That’s because there’s a wall, Jim. https://t.co/qkuWRhxolW — Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) January 10, 2019

So you went down to the border and found that there is no national emergency situation where steel slats have been erected? Good own. https://t.co/hykUVEYsfb — Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) January 10, 2019

This will be his video submission for induction into the journalist hall of fame https://t.co/UcYADB5VVB — Allahpundit (@allahpundit) January 10, 2019

“Look Mom, found some steel slats!” https://t.co/2By71Tjt2I — Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 10, 2019

Going to an area where there is a fence to show that it appears to deter people from trying to enter the country… kind of proves Trump’s point, doesn’t it? https://t.co/O9xoewYnWI — Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) January 10, 2019

Glad to see the steel slats are deterring illegal immigrants from attempting to cross the border exactly as @realDonaldTrump said they would. This is why we need to #BuildTheWall along the rest of our southern border. #WallsWork https://t.co/EWJYbq78Dn — Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) January 10, 2019

I would like to thank @Acosta for pointing out how peaceful, safe and secure it is at a part of the border that HAS a wall. #RealNews #BuildTheWall https://t.co/bkssL9nOW3 — Brad Parscale (@parscale) January 10, 2019

Of course, some people came to Acosta’s defense by remarking on the bigger point he was trying to make:

I just crossed the border, on foot, into Mexico near where Jim is walking yesterday. Later, I walked back across. The only people trying to sneak over anything here are American senior citizens with prescription meds they can’t afford to buy in their home country. https://t.co/EolFL7JuUG — Séamus Bellamy (@SeamusBellamy) January 10, 2019

if Jim was a real baller he would have brought a saw down with him and cut one of those holes ilke NBC did https://t.co/9xGrGP0Mld — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 10, 2019

you mean you didn’t see those huge, powerful vehicles the migrants are driving as they storm across the border? Vehicles that are bigger, stronger, faster than anything our law enforcement at the border has? pic.twitter.com/2YzeZ5TYXt — Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) January 10, 2019

UPDATE: 2:10 p.m. ET: Acosta is responding to critics.

The steel slats don’t run the entire length of the border in the McAllen area. We found one part where there is a chain link fence. Occasionally migrants come thru but residents say their community is quite safe. pic.twitter.com/ivpPl0XT48 — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 10, 2019

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