CNN anchor Jim Acosta and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul expressed outrage on Monday about Dr. Phil’s involvement in a Chicago Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid.
Dr. Phil was filmed questioning an alleged illegal Thai national alongside ICE officers during the late Sunday night operation, where he joined border czar Tom Homan. Raoul, on “CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta,” said Dr. Phil’s participation was “adverse to the First Amendment,” while Acosta raised concerns about the popular television host gaining “access” to the raid.
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“You mentioned Dr. Phil, the daytime talk show host. I did want to ask you about that because he is now apparently joining in on Trump’s immigration crackdown or getting access to it,” Acosta said. “He filmed at the ICE command center in Chicago, even questioned a detainee with Tom Homan, the head of ICE. Do you know why Dr. Phil, a TV personality, is getting involved in all of this, getting all this access? What’s going on?”
“I think it’s ridiculous. It’s making a mockery of what is supposed to be a focused, if it’s law enforcement, if it’s focusing on criminals, you don’t invite folks like that who have no law enforcement background to be embedded within,” Raoul answered. “I think it’s inappropriate. I think it’s done for the show and I think it’s done to upset community and to score political points with those who want to divide.”
Despite Homan on Thursday inviting NewsNation host Chris Cuomo to join ICE raids, Acosta suggested media personalities other than Dr. Phil have been shut out from accessing them.
“It sounds like he’s getting access, whereas we’re not seeing the rest of the media getting access,” Acosta said. “What does that tell you? Isn’t that a little strange?”
“You have somebody that’s favorable to the message that you want to send. It’s adverse to our First Amendment for sure,” Raoul responded. “But it’s also adverse to appropriate law enforcement practices.”
Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border on his first day in office, allowing him to utilize additional resources to tackle the immigration crisis. ICE announced 956 arrests on Sunday alone.
CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten explained Monday how drastically Americans have shifted toward trusting Republicans over Democrats on immigration.
“So, ‘trust which party more on immigration,’ you go back to April of 2017, look at this,” Enten said. “The Democrats held an 11-point advantage over Republicans. So Americans were not liking what Donald Trump and the Republican Party was doing back at the beginning of his first term. Look at where they are now though. Poll out just in the last week after Donald Trump took office, which party you trust more on immigration.”
“Look at the margin Republicans are putting up here! A 22-point lead over Democrats,” he continued. “You rarely see issues in which the American people side so much with one party over the other, but on the main issue that Donald Trump has been pumping up and Republicans have been pumping up since the beginning of his term that began just one week ago, Republicans lead overwhelmingly on this.”
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