Fox News has apologized after a chyron referred to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras as “three Mexican countries.”
The graphic in question read “Trump Cuts U.S. Aid to 3 Mexican Countries” and appeared Sunday during a segment on Fox & Friends in which the hosts were discussing President Trump’s recent declaration that he is seeking to cut funding to those countries as their citizens are fleeing north and overwhelming U.S. resources at the border.
The announcement comes as Trump has threatened to shut down the U.S. border with Mexico over immigration.
“We want to clarify and correct something that happened earlier in this show,” co-host Ed Henry said later in the broadcast. “We had an inaccurate graphic onscreen while talking about this very story. We just want to be clear, the funding is being cut off to the three Central American countries. We apologize for the error — it never should have happened.”
See the error, below.
People flocked to social media to point out the error, including the likes of New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling out the gaffe.
“3 Mexican Countries.”
Just a reminder that these are the same folks who assert their superiority by belittling the intelligence and good faith of others.https://t.co/7JA1kCdIoS pic.twitter.com/CwINMXAarO
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 31, 2019
Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are among the poorest countries in the hemisphere, and among the most violent in the world.
Adam Serwer, a staff writer for The Atlantic, tweeted that “this is less an error than an expression of Fox News’ underlying sentiment towards most Latinos.”
RAICES, a group that provides immigrants with legal services, called it “a new low for Fox News, when we thought they couldn’t go lower.”
Numerous journalists suggested that “Fox & Friends Weekend” needs a more diverse staff.
Later, Henry’s co-host Jedediah Bila posted, and then deleted, a tweet that shrugged off the mistake.