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Morning Joe Flip Out: ICE Arrests Are ‘Racial Profiling,’ ‘Kidnapping’
The left-wing media’s hysteria revolving around the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arrests and deportations nationwide had cranked up to the next level. On Thursday's edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-host of MSNBC’s The Weekend Symone Sanders-Townsend claimed people will see “racial profiling” as ICE continued to uphold the law. Meanwhile, another claimed ICE was “kidnapping” people.
Co-anchor Jonathan Lemire framed the segment around fear of “high profile clashes” in “Democratic controlled cities” in the country, where ICE was focusing their efforts.
It’s worth noting that cities like Los Angeles, with Democrat leadership, were places that supported illegal immigration via their so-called sanctuary city polices. It’s no wonder why ICE was in those places.
As the former Senior Advisor and Chief Spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, Sander-Townsend made statements regarding ICE’s motivation for the arrests that boiled down them just being racist:
Yeah, this is about to be very clear. It's about race. It's not necessarily about risk because we have seen ICE go into disproportionately communities of color, disproportionately Latino and Hispanic. And I would also argue I would also note black and brown, black communities and go to courthouses... This is about, at this point, meeting a particular arbitrary quota, frankly, that the White House care of Stephen Miller has set forward. And we are going to continue as we get closer and deeper and deeper into the summer, as we go into the fall to see racial profiling.
The facts were that it’s easier for people who lived in Latin America and South America to travel north, which was why Latinos and Hispanics contribute to a major population of illegal immigrants. That fact was completely taken out of context for the purpose of what ICE was for. ICE was not arresting people based on their race, but rather if they were in the country illegally.
The liberal media have shown support and sympathy towards illegal immigrants receiving the same privileges as American citizens, and they have forgotten that ICE was established to uphold the law and protect the country.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki contributed to the conversation by suggesting that ICE was “kidnapping” people. She also whined about them arresting people who lost the cases in immigration court:
They are going into communities where people don't have criminal records or people are law-abiding, even people who are going to their court hearings and they're targeting people...So when they say they're going after the worst of the worst and the hardest of the hardest, what they're actually doing to meet that, try to meet that 3000 number that Stephen Miller and others have set is they're going after what they consider low hanging fruit. People who are law-abiding, some who pay taxes, who are going to courtrooms to meet that number, and they're going into cities like L.A. to create a vision of chaos as if they are there to calm things, when really they are the ones who are creating the chaos. So this is quite performative.
Jen, they broke the law if they were here illegally. Defending illegal immigrants as “law-abiding” is hypocritical.
Between “racial profiling,” “kidnapping,” and not getting the concept of the word illegal, the liberal media pushed the agenda that ICE was the villain for keeping America safe and upholding the law. Meanwhile, they promoted those who were here illegally.
Click here for the transcript.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
7/10/25
9:24 a.m. Eastern
JONATHAN LEMIRE: And Jen Psaki, a Trump official yesterday telling me that because the border is basically been closed, you know, that the heat, this this official suggests they're victim of their own success. Therefore it's not easy to find these deportations. You know, that's because they have to therefore go into the cities to make their numbers. And that's what I think is being telegraphed here is those, as Julia mentioned, those high profile clashes in Los Angeles, those ICE agents there leading to protests. President Trump has all but telegraphed that this summer we should expect a lot more of that in cities, particularly Democratic controlled cities across the country.
JEN PSAKI: Well, I also think it's quite performative, Jonathan. I mean, they are – they have National Guard troops they shouldn't be using in this way. They are going into communities where people don't have criminal records or people are law abiding, even people who are going to their court hearings and they're targeting people.
A lot of the reporting I've seen lately has been about 50 percent. I don't know what the exact latest numbers, but about 50 percent of the people who they are arresting, some of them kidnaping, some of them deporting are not, don't have any record at all.
So when they say they're going after the worst of the worst and the hardest of the hardest, what they're actually doing to meet that – try to meet that 3,000 number that Stephen Miller and others have set, is they're going after what they consider low hanging fruit. People who are law abiding, some who pay taxes, who are going to courtrooms to meet that number. And they're going into cities like L.A. to create a vision of chaos as if they are there to calm things, when really they are the ones who are creating the chaos.
So this is quite performative. It's also about trying to hit these numbers and not going after people who are doing anything in society aside from being law abiding.
SYMONE SANDERS-TOWNSEND: Yeah, this is about – to be very clear. It's about race. It's not necessarily about risk because we have seen ICE go into disproportionately communities of color, disproportionately Latino and Hispanic. And I would also argue – I would also note black and brown –black communities and go to courthouses. We've seen them target traffic stops. We have seen viral videos of ICE approaching people in their yards.
This is about, at this point, meeting a particular arbitrary quota, frankly, that the White House care of Stephen Miller has set forward. And we are going to continue as we get closer and deeper and deeper into the summer, as we go into the fall to see racial profiling. And we're going to see these stories come out more and more. And I have to wonder what local municipalities, but also Congress and just law abiding citizens think about this?
Are we a country where we are comfortable, where we are going to racially profile people who are here based on the color of their skin, because Stephen Miller and the President wanted me to quota? That's the question we have to ask ourselves.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Symone Sanders-Townsend, thank you. We'll be watching The Weeknight at 7 P.M. Eastern right here on MSNBC. And Jen Psaki, thank you as well. We’ll, of course, be watching The Briefing Tuesdays through Fridays at 9 P.M. Eastern.