MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow struggled to process the latest news that the babies and toddler-age children of undocumented immigrants have been sent to “tender age” shelters by the Trump administration.
“This has just come out from the Associated Press, Trump Administration officials have been sending babies and other young children to at least three …” Maddow said on Tuesday’s show, then she had to stop mid-sentence as she couldn’t hold back her emotions.
“Can we put up the graphic of this?” Maddow asked her producers, “… three ‘tender age’ shelters in South Texas, lawyers …”
Rachel Maddow chokes up and cries on air as she struggles to deliver news that migrant babies and toddlers have been sent to “tender age” shelters pic.twitter.com/O6crm8cvyR
– Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 20, 2018
Maddow couldn’t finish the report and said through her tears, “I think I am going to have to hand this off,” before abruptly ending the show.
“The Rachel Maddow Show” host was referring to the Associated Press report released earlier Tuesday night stating that Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three ‘tender age’ shelters in South Texas.
The Rio Grande Valley shelters have play rooms full of crying preschool-age children in crisis, according to lawyers and medical providers who have visited the facilities, the AP reported.
Maddow later apologized for her breakdown via Twitter, saying: “Ugh, I’m sorry. If nothing else, it is my job to actually be able to speak while I’m on TV.
“I apologize for losing it there for a moment. Not the way I intended that to go, not by a mile.”
She went on to relay the story as she had intended to on-air but via Twitter.
Ugh, I’m sorry.
If nothing else, it is my job to actually be able to speak while I’m on TV.
What I was trying to do — when I suddenly couldn’t say/do anything — was read this lede:
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— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018
“Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents to at least three “tender age” shelters in South Texas…
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— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018
“Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the “tender age” shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis…
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— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018
“Decades after the nation’s child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is standing up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents…
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— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018
“The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it,” said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, “Toddlers are being detained.”
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— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018
All from this Associated Press story that broke while I was on the air tonight, but which I was unable to read on the air:https://t.co/2VBLTVxvQq
Again, I apologize for losing it there for a moment. Not the way I intended that to go, not by a mile.
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 20, 2018