Gary Hahn, a long-time play-by-play radio voice for North Carolina State Athletics, will be reinstated next week after he was “suspended indefinitely” on Dec. 30 over an on-air comment about “illegal aliens down in El Paso” during a broadcast of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Tammy Purves, vice president of Learfield Communications, said in a statement obtained by The News & Observer on Tuesday that Hahn would be back on-air starting Jan. 14.
Learfield is Hahn’s employer.
The news was also confirmed by Outkick, one of the largest sports websites on the internet, which quoted Purves’s email.
“Gary Hahn will rejoin the Wolfpack Sports Network broadcasts on Saturday, January 14, following his suspension,” Purves told the publication.
While Maryland was playing against North Carolina State in Charlotte last Friday, Hahn commented: “In the Sun Bowl and amongst all the illegal aliens down in El Paso, it’s UCLA 14 and Pittsburgh 6. That’s with 11:15 to go in the second quarter.”
Learfield, in conjunction with Wolfpack Sports Network, announced in a statement to ESPN that Hahn would be suspended “indefinitely.”
“Learfield has suspended Wolfpack Sports Network Play-by-Play announcer Gary Hahn from his agreement indefinitely following comments made during today’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl radio broadcast,” Learfield said in the statement.
Hahn has worked as the radio voice for North Carolina State football and men’s basketball since 1991. He was named North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year in 2010 and 2020.
El Paso’s Border Crisis
The annual college football game, held in El Paso since 1935, took place on Dec. 30 amid a border crisis that led the city’s Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, to declare a state of emergency last month.
The Sun Bowl “Fan Fiesta,” scheduled for Dec. 29, was canceled because the city’s convention center is a temporary shelter for illegal immigrants.
According to El Paso officials, thousands of illegal aliens are waiting at the southern border to cross into the United States once the Title 42 immigration policy, which was initially scheduled to expire on Dec. 21, comes to an end.
Publicly available data shows that 84,082 illegal immigrants were released into El Paso between Aug. 22 and Dec. 11, 2022. El Paso’s population is 678,000.
The aliens were allowed to stay in the United States while their court hearings were pending.
Julio Rosas, a U.S. Marine and senior reporter for Townhall, shared video footage on Twitter showing hundreds of processed and released illegal immigrants on the streets of El Paso.
The migrant homeless situation on the streets of El Paso has gotten worse as the encampments have grown in size since last week, all the while the status of Title 42 is still up in the air. The temps are expected to drop to the 30’s tonight —> https://t.co/zDyeRFsnRm pic.twitter.com/cZwjhE0YQq
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) December 21, 2022
Title 42 was invoked by former President Donald Trump in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy, which was implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, allows border agents to expel illegal aliens immediately without asylum processing if they are deemed to pose a health threat.
The Supreme Court recently temporarily halted its expiration, voting 5–4 to allow it to remain in place, and the policy now remains in limbo pending legal challenges.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden indicated that he will visit the U.S.–Mexico border for the first time since he took office nearly two years ago.
“That’s my intention, we’re working out the details now,” Biden said when asked if he will be going to the border in connection to a meeting next week in Mexico City with other world leaders.
Epoch Times reporters Jeff Louderback and Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.