This election's presidential debates have their Candy Crowley. In the form of CBS' Elaine Quijano.
Elaine Quijano was a very odd choice by CBS to moderate presidential debates. While other networks put forward major personalities with some level of respect, CBS put forward Elaine Quijano, who is on CBSN, is relatively young and known to fairly few people until today.
Why did CBS decide to shake things up with Elaine Quijano? A look at her reporting makes that apparent. She's done a lot of pieces advocating for illegal aliens.
In addition to highlighting Nutter's objections to the proposal, Quijano began her report by describing the plight of one illegal immigrant from the state: "Every day 23 year-old Jose fears he could be deported. His parents brought him to America illegally from Mexico when he was two." Quijano lamented: "He grew up in Pennsylvania, feeling every bit American, but it wasn't until high school that he realized what it meant to be an illegal immigrant. That he could not pursue his dream of joining the Air Force."
While Quijano's report featured five sound bites from Nutter and Jose, it only included two from state representative Metcalfe. She described how "Metcalfe argues illegal immigrants strain city and state budgets by siphoning off health and social services that Americans pay for." In the clip that followed, Metcalfe argued: "For decades in the past the federal government has been AWOL in securing or borders and protecting American lives, liberty, and property, so we at the state level need to join together to do so."
Quijano concluded the segment by observing: "As politicians grapple with these issues, people like Jose wait and worry." Jose remarked: "I don't remember Mexico. To me this is my only home." Quijano added: "A country that continues to struggle with this divisive issue."
It's not a one time thing. Advocating for illegal aliens has been a major beat for her.
Undocumented activist shares story of his own "invisible prison"
It was not until Jong-Min You was 17 that he realized that he had been living in the U.S illegally.
Her response shocked him: "You don't have one, you can't do that hospital residency program, and don't ever talk about this either," he recalled in an interview with CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano.
And, again and again.
Elaine Quijano profiles 23-year-old Mariano Cardoso, a college student in Connecticut fighting to stay in the US
The agenda here isn't subtle and it's not too hard to anticipate what she will do. Or what the Trump campaign should do.