Tucker Carlson doubles down on controversial immigration comments as more sponsors pull ads from show

Tucker Carlson stood behind the contentious comments he made about immigration on Monday night as the number of corporations that have stopped advertising on his show continued to rise.

“Nice people, no one doubts that, but as an economic matter, this is insane,” Carlson first said on Thursday about immigration. “It’s indefensible so nobody even tries to defend it. Instead our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. ‘We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor,’ they tell us. Even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided.”

During Monday night’s episode, Carlson slightly tweaked what he was saying by adding that he was referencing Tijuana, Mexico, based on a story he was reporting at the time about the migrant “caravan chaos” that is allegedly happening there.

“The left says we have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, even if it makes our own country more like Tijuana is now, which is to say poorer and dirtier and more divided. That’s what we said. It’s true,” Carlson said on Monday.

At least 16 sponsors have pulled ads from Carlson’s primetime Fox News show since his remarks, including Bowflex, Pacific Life, Nerdwallet, Ancestry.com, Jaguar Land Rover and IHOP, with CareerBuilder and Just For Man among the latest to drop out. Other companies, such Bayer, John Deere and Farmers Insurance are reportedly staying put for now.

Fox News responded to advertisers on Friday by saying: “It is a shame that left-wing advocacy groups, under the guise of being supposed ‘media watchdogs,’ weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech. We continue to stand by and work with our advertisers through these unfortunate and unnecessary distractions.”

Carlson has made it clear that he is not backing down.

“It’s a tactic, and a well-worn one,” the Fox News host said of the outcry over his statements. “Nobody thinks it’s real, and it won’t work with this show. We’re not intimidated. We plan to try to say what’s true until the last day. The truth is unregulated mass immigration has badly hurt this country’s natural landscape.”

Carlson went on to highlight parts of Arizona near the border that are filled with trash, allegedly left by migrants. And he suggested that the left is profiting from the current immigration policy, so they just want the media to “shut up and move on.”

“Those who won’t shut up get silenced. You have seen it a million times; it happens all the time,” Carlson said. “The enforcers scream ‘racist’ on Twitter until everyone gets intimidated and changes the subject to the Russia investigation or some other distraction.”

Tucker Carlson Tonight airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on Fox News.

Watch Fox News host Jesse Watters read text messages from his left-leaning mother:

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