Don Lemon’s Silence Reveals Mainstream Media’s Legal Blind Spot

Dave Rubin did the public a service by posting the DM clip that exposes a reality the mainstream media would rather ignore: during a man-on-the-street exchange a Don Lemon segment collapsed when a citizen pointed out the obvious legal hole in the left’s talking points. Rubin’s show highlighted the moment when Lemon’s assertion — that coming to America illegally isn’t a crime — ran into a simple, inconvenient fact and the host fell eerily silent.

That silence matters. The clip shows what millions of hardworking Americans already know: words from TV anchors don’t change statutes, and a newsroom’s preferred narrative doesn’t erase the law. When a regular American pushed back and noted that unlawful entry is, in fact, a prosecutable offense, Lemon had no answer — because the law is on the citizen’s side, not the media’s.

The legal truth is plain: federal law makes improper entry a criminal offense in many circumstances under 8 U.S.C. § 1325, which treats entering or attempting to enter at a place other than a designated port of entry as a punishable act. Conservatives aren’t inventing this — the statute is written in black and white, and pretending otherwise is willful ignorance. The nuance that overstaying a visa can be treated as civil does not erase the criminality of entering unlawfully.

This isn’t an isolated flub by one anchor; it’s part of a pattern where CNN and other outlets soft-pedal the legal reality and recast lawbreaking as mere paperwork problems. CNN guests and panelists have repeatedly argued for softer language — even saying crossing without papers “is not a crime” — while anchors let the framing stand unchallenged. The clip Rubin shared is simply the most recent, embarrassing example of media elites gaslighting the public on border enforcement.

Meanwhile, the border is not an abstract policy debate for people who pay taxes and worry about safety; it’s real and costly. When enforcement is demanded and authorities actually move to restore order, processing facilities are shut down because fewer illegal crossings overwhelm the system less — proving that decisive action, not rhetoric, controls the flow. Voters who value the rule of law know the solution isn’t op-eds and euphemisms, it’s enforcement.

Americans should be furious that a cable anchor could talk down the law on national television and then go quiet when corrected. That kind of performative compassion is a con: it sanitizes lawbreaking while dumping real costs onto citizens and communities. It’s time voters demand honest reporting that backs American sovereignty and the rule of law, not talking points that reward lawlessness.

If our country means anything, it means equal treatment under the law and secure borders. When journalists like Don Lemon duck the hard questions and fall silent instead of defending the rule of law, it exposes who the press really serves. Hardworking Americans will not be lectured into silence by anchors who treat patriotism as a punchline; we will hold them and their political allies accountable at the ballot box.