A top Republican challenged a professor on the border debate. It did not go well.

The following article by Melanie Schmitz was posted on the TinkProgress website September 6, 2017:

Oops.

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY OF CALIF., SPEAKS TO REPORTERS ON CAPITOL HILL IN WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2017. (CREDIT: AP PHOTO/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE)

During an interview with The Ralph Bailey Show on Tuesday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy attempted to explain the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program scale-back, immigration, and the debate over the southern border to a political science professor from California State University, Bakersfield. The professor just didn’t understand the issues with immigration, how border patrol operates, or why Mexico was so dangerous, McCarthy claimed. “Have you ever been to the border?” he asked.

There was just one problem: the professor to whom McCarthy was speaking— Mark Martinez—had indeed been to the border. In fact, Martinez had previously taught graduate studies in Mexico at the Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro, hundreds of miles south of the border and has a wide breadth of knowledge in political development, international relations, and American foreign policy. Continue reading “A top Republican challenged a professor on the border debate. It did not go well.”