‘Ashamed’ Geraldo Rivera Goes Off-Script In Emotional Fox News Plea For Migrants

Ed Mazza
Updated

Geraldo Rivera of Fox News said he’s “ashamed” by how asylum-seekers are being depicted as well as the how they’re being greeted with tear gas at the border.

“I am ashamed,” Rivera said on “The Five” on Monday. “The tear gas choked me. We treat these people, these economic refugees, as if they’re zombies from ‘The Walking Dead.’”

His voice rising and filled with emotion, he said the migrants were economic refugees, not invaders, and urged people to stop using “military analogies” when talking about them.

He added:

“These are desperate people. They walked 2,000 miles. Why? Because they want to rape your daughter or steal your lunch? No! Because they want a job. They want to fill the millions of unfilled jobs we have in the agricultural sector. They want to wash dishes in the restaurants. They want to deliver the pizzas. For goodness sake, we suspend our humanity when it comes to this issue, and I fear that it is because they look different than the mainstream.”

Rivera also defended the migrants last month on the network in a heated debate with Sean Hannity and former White House aide Sebastian Gorka.

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Sarahi, 8, is from Honduras and traveling with her family. She likes to draw and enjoys school. She says that the journey is tough, but seeing a lot of other kids makes her feel at ease.
Sarahi, 8, is from Honduras and traveling with her family. She likes to draw and enjoys school. She says that the journey is tough, but seeing a lot of other kids makes her feel at ease.
Marlin, 15, is a student.
Marlin, 15, is a student.
Olman, 21, is from Honduras and is taxi driver. The local mafia system has made it impossible to work. He said he misses his favorite dish: baleada, a tortilla that can be stuffed with a variety of ingredients similar to a taco.
Olman, 21, is from Honduras and is taxi driver. The local mafia system has made it impossible to work. He said he misses his favorite dish: baleada, a tortilla that can be stuffed with a variety of ingredients similar to a taco.
Osman, the barber.
Osman, the barber.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.