Joy Reid and Rep. Jayapal laugh at report of 13-year-old getting raped by illegal immigrant in Queens, call it 'fear-mongering'

On Tuesday, Joy Reid sat down with Washington state Rep. Pramila Jayapal and the two discussed illegal immigration into the US, an issue at the top of voters' minds this election season. On his first day in office in 2021, President Joe Biden reversed President Donald Trump's border control measures and since then illegal immigrants have been pouring into the country by the millions.
 

"There's a lot of fear-mongering," Jayapal told Reid. 

"There is a lot of fear-mongering," Reid agreed. Jayapal has been advocating for refugees from Gaza to be allowed to come to the US. 

"And I think it's kind of remarkable that the polls I look at, the national polls, actually Americans still support immigrants, they support immigration," Jayapal said. "It's just that they would like to see a system that actually works and that can keep them safe and secure."

"Yeah," Reid said.

"And actually," Jayapal said, touting her record, "I've been working on this issue for twenty years, since before I came to Congress in the streets as an activist."

"Let me show you, this is one of the reasons that people have these sort of thinking, this sort of thinking," Reid said. "Here's the three cable networks reporting of this. Our banner said 'Soon Biden announces legal protections for undocumented spouses of US citizens.' CNN's banner said 'Biden announces new protections for undocumented spouses.' Here was Fox's banner: 'Migrant arrested for raping 13-year-old.'"

Jayapal laughed and Reid quipped "I think that's part of the problem, is that you have a lot of fear-mongering."

The Fox headline referred to the rape of a 13-year-old girl in Queens, New York who was allegedly the victim of an Ecuadorian illegal immigrant. That man, Christian Geovanny Inga-Landi, 25, was ordered to leave the country by an immigration judge on Feb. 2, 2022. He came to the US via Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2021 under Biden's watch. While Inga-Landi and his family had no documentation, they were released into the US pending a court date. 

Inga-Landi reportedly held a 13-year-old girl and boy at knifepoint with a machete in broad daylight in Queens. He tied their hands together with shoelaces and raped the girl, then taking their phones. The teens were able to report the incident at a nearby school and police later apprehended the man.

For Reid and Jayapal, mentioning this is nothing more than fearmongering. Jayapal went further, saying that Americans who oppose illegal immigration are speaking to economic concerns and not those involving crime or, in this case, the brutal rape of a minor on a city street.

"Yes," Jayapal said. "Exactly, and we know that when people have economic insecurity, when they are facing high child-care costs, when they're facing high housing costs, they are concerned for themselves. So anybody who comes into a space of that economic insecurity, and says 'hey, why are these people getting something you're not getting,' it does turn people against those people whether they agree or don't agree that they have, y'know, that they're helping the country. I mean the economics of immigration are absolutely, you can't argue with it. Y'know, we have brought in so much money through immigration and the surge in immigration—"

"Absolutely," Reid interjected. 

"Had already brought in so much money and will continue to do so," Jayapal said.