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MSNBC Host Scolds Muslim Woman Who Cited Fox News Statistic

June 26, 2018

MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin chastised a guest on Tuesday for citing statistics reported by Fox News.

Melvin was interviewing Julia Shearson, executive director of the Cleveland, Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, about today’s Supreme Court ruling that upheld Trump’s travel restrictions on several countries deemed severe national security threats.

Shearson expressed disagreement with the ruling, saying "it’s clear to everyone that this Muslim ban, or this proclamation, was clearly intended to reduce immigration from the Muslim countries."

"Fox News has actually said that it would reduce immigration from the Muslim world by 21 percent, so this is clearly a problem," Shearson continued.

Melvin proceeded to correct Shearson’s transgression.

"For future reference, Julia, we don’t usually go citing numbers from that particular network here on the broadcast, but we’ll let you go since you’re a new guest to the show," he said.

Shearson appears to have been referencing a 2017 article, which derived the 21 percent figure from statistics provided by the Department of Homeland Security.

The article explained how it reached that number:

It is impossible to say exactly how many fewer Muslims would be allowed to immigrate in the future due to the order, but the past data from 2015 likely serve as a good estimate, as immigration figures have been relatively stable. In 2014, 126,742 people came from the Islamic world; in 2015, it was a similar 131,061.

In 2015, the United States gave permanent immigration visas to 27,678 people born in those countries, according to the latest data from the Department of Homeland security.

If those 27,678 people had not been allowed to immigrate in 2015, that would have stopped 21 percent of immigration from the Islamic world that year -- out of a total of 131,061 people who were admitted from countries in which the large majority - more than two-thirds - are Muslim.

Last month, Fox News extended its streak of leading cable news ratings to 197 months. Fox News averaged 2.381 million primetime viewers in May compared to 1.384 million for MSNBC.

Published under: Immigration , Media , MSNBC