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Fox News' 'Battle At The Border' Draws Protests

Diana Lopez of the Southwest Workers Union leads a chant near the entrance to the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort, where Fox News' "Battle at the Border" event was held
Carson Frame
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Texas Public Radio
Diana Lopez of the Southwest Workers Union leads a chant near the entrance to the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort, where Fox News' "Battle at the Border" event was held

The Southwest Workers Union and members of the San Antonio community gathered Friday to protest Fox News’ “Battle at the Border,” a town hall event centered on border security and immigration issues.

Credit Carson Frame / Texas Public Radio
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Texas Public Radio

As panelists like “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade and “Fox Nation” host Tomi Lahren prepared to address event-goers at the JW Marriott Hill Country resort, a crowd of about 15 people assembled along a road near the entrance. Security officials gave them five minutes to disperse, then drove away and did not return.

Some protesters waved signs while others chanted, “Raise up your fists. Resist. Resist,” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Fox News has got to go,” and “No racist law; no border wall.”

In a news release, Southwest Workers Union, which organized the demonstration, said the “Battle at the Border” event “reinforces the false narrative of an alleged border community inchaosthat is both incorrect and not a reflection of our reality.”

Citing the current levels of undocumented immigration into the U.S. and the low crime rates of migrant populations, the union noted: “Fox News and speaker Tomi Lahren are not from our community nor do they speak to our experiences. The framing of this dialogue and attempts to explain the situation is both detrimental to our neighborhoods and dangerous.”

Standing with a sign that read, “No almuro(no to the wall),”LaereeLepo shared her thoughts on the event.

“It’s misrepresentation all around. ...It’s buying into that clickbait: ‘Trump said something so let me go ahead and ride those coattails.’ ”

Beto De León, a member of the environmental justice team within Southwest Workers Union, said he came to defend his community and the border region, which he feels is being exploited for policy reasons.

“Right now, they’re in there talking about a wall to separate us from Mexico. And, for a lot of our community members, we don’t feel that that’s just or a solution to fix any of the problems that they’re exploiting for their own nationalist agenda,” he said.

Protesters wave signs at passing cars.
Credit Carson Frame / Texas Public Radio
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Texas Public Radio
Protesters wave signs at passing cars.

The town hall featured several speakers, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott. De León expressed frustration at their presence.

“I feel like it continues the distance between the state government and the community. It’s not basedinsolutions. It’s not based in community building,” he said. “It’s continuing more of the fear-mongering that Washington’s been pushing.”

Diana Lopez, one of the protest organizers,said“Battle at the Border” helped her develop a better understanding of national media and the role they play in public opinion.

“Being here in spaces where people aren’t from San Antonio, they’re not from the border, they don’t understand the context — and they criminalize everything that has to do with the border — it’s very intense and very false,” Lopez said. “I think that’s an important role that’s played by national media, to control the story and portray a vision that’s very skewed and different from what the reality is.”

She also critiqued the resort venue chosen for the event, noting that was more than 100 miles from the border and separated from community dialogue.

“How could they really understand the realities of what’s happening if they’re not actually on the border and coming into the communities? And knowing what the stories are?”

The panel discussion will be aired on Fox News Channel at 7 p.m. Sunday and again at 10 p.m.

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Carson Frame can be reached at carson@tpr.org or on Twitter@carson_frame

Copyright 2020 Texas Public Radio. To see more, visit Texas Public Radio.

Carson graduated from the University of Southern Florida in 2011 with a B.A. in English and International Studies, and earned a Master's degree in Journalism from New York University in 2017. Prior to coming to San Antonio, she worked as a reporter for the WMNF 88.5 FM Evening News in 2008. Since then, she's written for Ms. Magazine, Chronogram, Souciant, and Bedford+Bowery, among others. Carson has also done audio work for the podcasts Death, Sex & Money (WNYC) and Memory Motel (Listening Booth Media).