Well, this is shocking. In a stunning departure from the network's typical liberal spin on the news, CNN reporter Rosa Flores called out President Joe Biden for not meeting with illegal immigrants during his first visit to our southern border.

In the video below, which aired on Monday, CNN host Poppy Harlow spoke to Flores, who was reporting from El Paso, Texas, where Biden had spent three hours on Sunday.

Harlow noted that Biden had met with border patrol agents and local law enforcement officials, but he did not speak with any of the migrants.

“That’s why the president is being criticized by both sides because of what he didn’t see," Flores explained. "So let me show you. Because this is one of the migrant camps that's here in downtown El Paso. And you know, the immigration advocates here in El Paso and Gov. Greg Abbott usually don’t agree on much, but they do raise the same question: If President Biden came here to El Paso to see the reality on the ground about the border and he didn’t come here, what’s considered the epicenter of this crisis, did he leave with a clear understanding?”

Flores said, “My colleague, MJ Lee, asked the White House about the president not interacting or meeting with any migrants, and a senior administration official told her that it is because there were no migrants at the respite center at the time that the president visited and that it was coincidental."

Flores clearly was not buying that answer, telling Harlow, "But Poppy, I checked the migrant dashboard that the city of El Paso has. And at the time when the president was here, there were nearly 1,000 migrants who were in federal detention. So if the president really wanted to see conditions, I kind of doubt that the president of the United States would have been denied access.”

Harlow pointed out the migrants that were sleeping on the sidewalk behind Flores, who said, “You see them here behind me. Hundreds of people living in the streets of America, I should highlight. This is a city in America, in the United States, and the top executive of this country came here, [but] he did not come to see this."

It was refreshing -- and surprising -- to hear two CNN employees actually calling it as they saw it.

At any rate, Biden can no longer be accused of not having traveled to the border. But did he really come face to face with the humanitarian crisis that his administration's reckless policies have caused? Judging from Flores' account and other reports, particularly those from the conservative media, it doesn't appear so.

It's been widely reported that, in preparation for Biden's visit, under the cover of night, the city of El Paso, Texas, conducted a major clean-up operation.

According to The New York Post, one of their photographers witnessed city workers dismantling migrant encampments and sending "hundreds of migrants across the border to Mexico" ahead of Biden's visit.

"Six buses loaded with mostly Venezuelan migrants were spotted crossing a downtown bridge to Ciudad Juarez, the frontier city in Mexico, Saturday, as police escorted dozens more to a pedestrian crossing," the report said.

A Border Patrol agent who wished to remain anonymous told the outlet that "200 people were sent back to Mexico Saturday."

Nothing to see here folks, everything’s been scrubbed clean for our Buffoon in Chief’s visit! “On Tues & Wed law enforcement teams moved through the downtown area, picking up migrants who had entered the country illegally.

The Cleanup…its all staged” https://t.co/KwMFUnG9Qs

— Gina M. Shiffert (@ShiftiGina) January 8, 2023

Curious. Anyone talking about the cleanup in El Paso, Texas ahead of Bidens visit? Like his presidency, all lies on the reality of his worthless policy on our open border. We can't have Biden see the reality

— M R (@MR49531881) January 8, 2023

How could it possibly be in the city's interest to downplay the results of the Biden administration's misguided policies? Why would officials want to present a sanitized version of the city for the president's edification? Perhaps, knowing that his visit would be widely covered by the press, the order to clean up the city came from his own administration.

Whatever the reason, aside from crossing it off his "to do" list and letting Americans know he's serious about running for re-election, his time at the border is not likely to result in any meaningful policy changes.

But I still marvel at the fact that Biden actually got called out by CNN.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.