A panel discussion on CNN's NewsNight With Abby Phillip descended into acrimony Thursday as a progressive activist and a former Clinton aide clashed with a Trump campaign official over the Supreme Court's ruling on asylum seekers.
The court earlier in the day allowed the Trump administration to turn away migrants at the border, a decision that Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something, called 'such a devastating way to go into celebrating 250 years of America.' She argued that immigrants contribute to the nation's greatness, citing those who come as doctors and engineers.
Caroline Sunshine, communications director for Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, interrupted to reference the death of 11-year-old Aiden Clark in Springfield, Ohio, who was killed in a 2023 school bus crash involving a Haitian immigrant. 'Was the Haitian migrant who killed 11-year-old Aiden Clark making America better with that action?' she asked.
Panelist Condemns Use of Tragedy
Keith Boykin, a former Clinton aide, responded that Sunshine was using a single case to justify a policy affecting hundreds of thousands. 'You're gonna kick out 350,000 people because of one case?' he asked. Sunshine retorted, 'He killed a child. Is that making America better?'
Boykin then accused Sunshine of racism, stating, 'You focus on one Haitian person and use that as justification for a racist foreign policy. It's disgusting. It's abhorrent.' Sunshine countered that the child's death was itself 'disgusting,' but Boykin concluded, 'That shows exactly what MAGA is made of. It's made of racism.'
Phillip ended the segment shortly after.
