On Sunday’s The Weekend: Primetime, NPR immigration reporter Jasmine Garsd joined the regular MSNBC panel to fret over the alleged “brutality” of ICE arrests, and went along with co-host Charles Coleman Jr. dismissing Dean Cain and other potential ICE recruits as “rogue cowboys.”
The segment began with the Argentine-American journalist recalling the case of an illegal immigrant family who were recently arrested in Florida and separated, with the father being sent to Alligator Alcatraz. After noting the current ad campaign by ICE to recruit new agents, co-host Charles Coleman Jr. turned attention to Cain announcing that he would join ICE:
Speaking of cosplay and almost-60-year-old folks, we have learned that Dean Cain — formerly of Super — and I always forget who Dean Cain is until I realize he was Superman, and then I realize he was, like, the worst Superman (laughter from other panel members). He has said that he wants to sign up for ICE. Right, like, and so when you talk about cosplay — all jokes aside — this very much so feels like cops and robbers for folks.
He then referred to those who might be interested in joining ICE as “rogue cowboys” as he continued:
Talk to us about, how are you training a 59-year-old man, for example — even someone who, you know, may have had an active lifestyle, right? Like, where are you finding these rogue cowboys that just say, like, “I want to dress up and help ICE,” regardless of where they are in life and their age. Talk to us about that.
Garsd dismissed Cain’s actions as a “PR move,” and then, without making a distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, the NPR reporter complained that there is “collective amnesia” over the mistreatment of immigrants in the past:
Well, I think it’s a PR move, right? I mean, all jokes aside, Dean Cain has spoken about his own — the Japanese side of his family being in an internment camp, all jokes aside. So I think it’s very symbolic of this moment that we’re in in which there seems to be a collective amnesia that so many families come from immigrant families from immigrant groups that were vilified, whether it was Italian Americans or Irish immigrants or, in the case of Dean Cain’s ancestors who were placed in an internment camp.
She added:
But, as per your question, I think there’s the huge PR move. I mean, I believe that poster that you showed, you know, in the social media post — it also said that this is a wonderful father-son activity. … and so, you know, again, there is an element of role-playing and, you know, against people who, for the most part, they’re not criminals.
Ignoring the surge of illegal aliens who were allowed into the U.S. during the Joe Biden administration who still need to be deported, co-host Antonia Hylton pushed the narrative that there is no need to increase the size of ICE now that the border is secure:
One of the things, as a reporter, you know, I covered immigration earlier in my career, and it’s interesting in this moment the cognitive dissonance of being told, you know, not a soul is crossing the border, we’ve sealed the U.S.-Mexico border, but also we need a tripled budget. This is going to be larger than many other nations’ militaries, and those things should be true at the very same time? How do you make sense of it?
Garsd concluded by worrying that there will be a “normalization” of “brutality” and “cruelty” by ICE agents:
… I also think what’s happening that concerns me as a reporter as well as I report on this, is a normalization of a certain brutality. It’s the normalization of a certain degree of cruelty. Regardless of what you think about immigration laws and “Should we have a conversation about immigration processes?” There’s — there’s sort of this normalizing of this brutality of masked agents going in and, again, like cosplaying the punisher on a woman who is selling, you know, a street vendor with food. …
Transcript follows:
MSNBC’s The Weekend
August 10, 2024
7:39 p.m. Eastern
CHARLES COLEMAN JR.: Speaking of cosplay and almost-60-year-old folks, we have learned that Dean Cain — formerly of Super — and I always forget who Dean Cain is until I realize he was Superman, and then I realize he was, like, the worst Superman. (laughter from other panel members) He has said that he wants to sign up for ICE. Right, like, and so when you talk about cosplay — all jokes aside — this very much so feels like cops and robbers for folks. Talk to us about, how are you training a 59-year-old man, for example — even someone who, you know, may have had an active lifestyle, right? Like, where are you finding these rogue cowboys that just say, like, “I want to dress up and help ICE,” regardless of where they are in life and their age. Talk to us about that.
JASMINE GARSD, NPR IMMIGRATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it’s a PR move, right? I mean, all jokes aside, Dean Cain has spoken about his own — the Japanese side of his family being in an internment camp, all jokes aside. So I think it’s very symbolic of this moment that we’re in in which there seems to be a collective amnesia that so many families come from immigrant families from immigrant groups that were vilified, whether it was Italian Americans or Irish immigrants or, in the case of Dean Cain’s ancestors who were placed in an internment camp. But, as per your question, I think there’s the huge PR move. I mean, I believe that poster that you showed, you know, in the social media post — it also said that this is a wonderful father-son activity.
ANTONIA HYLTON: That’s right.
GARSD: Yeah, and so, you know, again, there is an element of role-playing and, you know, against people who, for the most part, they’re not criminals.
ELISE JORDAN: And just a little historical context, during World War II, we didn’t want old men fighting. That was getting rid of the older officers within the officer corps was a no brainer because they were simply, like, if you were around Dean Cain’s age, you would not have been getting a plumb post.
HYLTON: And this is not World War II.
JORDAN: Exactly!
HYLTON: One of the things, as a reporter, you know, I covered immigration earlier in my career, and it’s interesting in this moment the cognitive dissonance of being told, you know, not a soul is crossing the border, we’ve sealed the U.S.-Mexico border, but also we need a tripled budget. This is going to be larger than many other nations’ militaries, and those things should be true at the very same time? How do you make sense of it?
GARSD: Yeah, I think also it’s the creation of a reality that, on the ground is not the reality, but I also think what’s happening that concerns me as a reporter as well as I report on this, is a normalization of a certain brutality. It’s the normalization of a certain degree of cruelty. Regardless of what you think about immigration laws and “Should we have a conversation about immigration processes?” There’s — there’s sort of this normalizing of this brutality of masked agents going in and, again, like cosplaying the punisher on a woman who is selling, you know, a street vendor with food. And so I think that is part of this, you know — I feel that we might be at this crossroad in which we either say, “This is the norm — this is the landscape of who are,” or “No, this is unrealistic.”
HYLTON: A lot of people concerned that the Overton window just keeps shifting and shifting and shifting. Jasmine Garsd, thank you so much for joining us tonight.
