Fiona Bruce was met with outrage when she questioned Donald Trump‘s policy during a US election special of BBC Question Time.
The host was discussing the Republican presidential hopeful’s immigration plans with Pennsylvania State Representative Martina White, also a Republican.
When White was posed the question “what should be done to improve the immigration system?” she got into a heated discussion with Bruce about Trump’s planned policies.
Bruce said: “Donald Trump said he wants to seal the border, so let nobody in … That is part of his agenda, it’s written on his website in black and white … Seal the border means let nobody in.”
This prompted an outcry from White and people in the audience who can be heard saying “no, no, no” as they strongly disagree with Bruce’s words.
White hit back, “No, no, no, that’s being misinterpreted” as the panel and audience burst out into discussions and disagreements of their own.
Bruce maintained that sealing the border means Trump doesn’t want to let anybody in, which garnered applause form some people in the Philadelphia audience.
White went on: “He means to literally secure … Apparently this panel has some issues in understanding what secure the border means, but it means not to have an open border where anyone and everyone can just come in.”
Fellow Republican and advisor to Trump, Bryan Lanza, also chimed in, calling out Bruce for being the only media personality to not understand Trump’s stance on immigration.
He said: “He’s [Trump] not saying we have a problem with legal immigrants, we’re saying we have a problem with illegal immigrants breaking our laws.
“So when we’re talking about sealing the border, we’re talking about seling the border for illegal immigrants. I think you [Bruce] might be the first media person to interpret it differently, which is why we’re a little bit caught off guard.”
British-American political commentator Mehdi Hasan was then quick to remind the panel and audience that the “illegal immigrants” they speak of have the right to seek ayslum under American and international law.
He said: “You’re wrong. You’re wrong, actually. Cliaming asylum is not illegal.”