On Thursday’s Deadline: White House on MSNBC, fill-in host Alicia Menendez wrongly claimed that an illegal alien was arrested outside a California school while dropping off his child. She also seemed to cheer on the harassment of ICE agents, reporter Jacob Soboroff claimed that illegal aliens are “citizens even if they’re undocumented,” and contributor Cornell Belcher blamed racism for the deportation push.
The 5:00 p.m. Eastern hour began with clips of D.C. protesters chanting, “ICE go home,” while walking near ICE agents. Menendez reacted:
An incredible scene in the nation’s capital this week when a crowd of residents drove away about a dozen ICE agents who were stationed at Columbia Heights Metro Station. It is just one of the many scenes that show that Americans are not on board with Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns, which often times are turning violent.
After showing a clip of two men being arrested by ICE in D.C., she got to the story about a man allegedly being arrested at a school in California:
That violence on display this morning in that same D.C. neighborhood when ICE agents surrounded a car and shattered the windows to arrest the two men inside. (clip of ICE agents breaking car windshield and arresting occupants as protesters shout) These arrests — they are part of a show of force, and they are happening everywhere. Even outside of schools — schools. Yesterday, in Encinitas, California, a father was detained after dropping his kid off in the morning at Park Dale Elementary School. The superintendent alerting the school community that, quote, “This incident was witnessed by family, community members, staff and students, causing fear and trauma across our district.”
The fear instilled across the country, it shows no signs of slowing down.
But, according to ICE, the arrest took place two blocks from the school, and the man was alone in his car when he was pulled over. “Claims that ICE conducted enforcement on school grounds are patently false,” field office director Patrick Divver said. “ICE San Diego has not conducted enforcement at schools, and suggestions to the contrary mislead the public and create unnecessary fear.”
After Soboroff invoked the family separations at the border in 2018 to complain that immigrant families are being separated by recent arrests, Menendez turned to immigration activist Andrea Flores and fretted:
… you and I both recall during Trump separation — family separation 1.0, it was suburban moms — some of them avowedly apolitical — who said, “I cannot believe this is happening in my country. In that child, I see my own child.” Moms don’t want to see ICE agents showing up at schools, at churches — there used to be sensitive areas where they were not allowed. The fact that they now feel emboldened — feel as though they can show up in places where they are not just traumatizing the person they are taking into custody and their loved ones — they are traumatizing entire communities.
A bit later, as Soboroff warned that there will be more cities targeted by ICE, he bizarrely referred to illegals as “citizens” during his rant:
And just like there’s no Democratic or Republican way to take out the trash — just as LaGuardia famously said about what goes on in New York — there is not a particular Democratic or Republican way to deal with your own citizens even if they’re undocumented being ripped out of your communities and destroying the way of life all across the United States of America. Everyone is going to be faced with this on all levels of government.
After Flores and Menendez made dire predictions about entities like schools and hospitals having to close down due to a lack of immigrant workers, Belcher blamed racism for the drive to deport illegals:
… it’s a pivotal moment because what you’re really asking is, “At what price racism?” Is there a price too high where Americans will say, “This is too high a price for racism — this is too high a price for fear of replacement theory”? Because this is what this is about, right? These mass deportations aren’t about criminals and gang members because they’re not. They’re deporting, you know, working people who happen to be brown. And we know the architects of this are steeped in white nationalism, and it’s the fear of replacement theory.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC’s Deadline: White House
August 21, 2025
5:00 p.m. Eastern
(clip of protesters chanting, “ICE go home,” at ICE agents in D.C.)
ALICIA MENENDEZ: Hi, again, everyone. It is 5:00 here in New York. I’m Alicia Menendez, in for Nicolle Wallace. An incredible scene in the nation’s capital this week when a crowd of residents drove away about a dozen ICE agents who were stationed at Columbia Heights Metro Station. It is just one of the many scenes that show that Americans are not on board with Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns, which often times are turning violent.
That violence on display this morning in that same D.C. neighborhood when ICE agents surrounded a car and shattered the windows to arrest the two men inside. (clip of ICE agents breaking car windshield and arresting occupants as protesters shout) These arrests — they are part of a show of force, and they are happening everywhere. Even outside of schools — schools. Yesterday, in Encinitas, California, a father was detained after dropping his kid off in the morning at Park Dale Elementary School. The superintendent alerting the school community that, quote, “This incident was witnessed by family, community members, staff and students, causing fear and trauma across our district.”
The fear instilled across the country, it shows no signs of slowing down. The brand new reporting in The New York Times showing that deportation numbers are reaching new highs because of this surge in arrests. … Faced with backlash over these aggressive arrests we just saw in D.C., the Trump administration continues to double down, claiming that they are going after the “worst of the worst.” But, according to The New York Times, quote, “almost all of the increase in arrests has been people without any prior criminal convictions.”
(…)
JACOB SOBOROFF: … But The New York Times published that data today that the vast majority of the increase in the deportations modeled after the 1954 Dwight D. Eisenhower program with that racist name that deported a million Mexicans and some Mexican Americans. So Americans as well were deported. That’s the model for the program. They’re ripping families apart. It’s not family separation at the border — it’s family separation in the interior, and it’s playing out every single day across the country. This is what they promised — this is what they’re doing. But what I don’t think they anticipated is that it’s not, you know, these are not just activists that are standing out there with phones. Everyday Americans are seeing this happen every single day, and they’re outraged by it, and I think that will only continue to grow.
MENENDEZ: Okay, how did they not anticipate that, Andrea Flores? Because you and I both recall during Trump separation — family separation 1.0, it was suburban moms — some of them avowedly apolitical — who said, “I cannot believe this is happening in my country. In that child, I see my own child.” Moms don’t want to see ICE agents showing up at schools, at churches — there used to be sensitive areas where they were not allowed. The fact that they now feel emboldened — feel as though they can show up in places where they are not just traumatizing the person they are taking into custody and their loved ones — they are traumatizing entire communities.
(…)
SOBOROFF: Karen Bass said something — the mayor of Los Angeles — as those raids started in L.A. at the beginning of the summer. This is a petri dish — I’m paraphrasing — this is basically coming to a city near you. And Eric Adams has made the choice now to speak out against the Trump administration and what they’re doing here in the courthouses in Lower Manhattan. I promise you it’s not just going to be in Miami and in Los Angeles and in Washington, D.C. — with $175 billion or whatever the number is that they got at ICE — this is coming to communities all across America with Democratic and Republican mayors. And just like there’s no Democratic or Republican way to take out the trash — just as LaGuardia famously said about what goes on in New York — there is not a particular Democratic or Republican way to deal with your own citizens even if they’re undocumented being ripped out of your communities and destroying the way of life all across the United States of America. Everyone is going to be faced with this on all levels of government.
(…)
MENENDEZ: If members of Congress in red districts start understanding that their economy cannot operate, major industries — AG, construction — cannot operate. They start getting those calls. They’re already getting those calls — you know that. Does it actually embolden any of them to stand up to Donald Trump, to Speaker Mike Johnson, and say, “Enough is enough here — we’ve got to do something”?
ANDREA FLORES, FWD.US: I mean, we will start to see hospitals closing. We’ll see schools closing. We will see communities starting in some ways to shut down because that is what happens when immigrants leave populations because the United States does not have enough people right now.
(…)
MENENDEZ: Cornell, I hear you on the fact that members of Trump’s base are pumped — they feel like this is what they voted for — that they are happy to watch him deliver. For everybody else, if, all of a sudden, they can’t go to their local hospital — they can’t go to even their local restaurant — they can’t get their Uber Eats because there’s no one who wants to deliver the food because they’re worried about being pulled off a moped in the middle of the street — I mean, then do folks start feeling like this is not what they voted for, right? Those voters who might be low-propensity voters, swing voters, Dems who voted for Democrats in the past but voted for Trump this time around. Do they come back home?
CORNELL BELCHER, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Look, this is a — this is a — this is a crossroad. It’s a — it’s a — it’s a — it’s a pivotal moment because what you’re really asking is, “At what price racism?” Is there a price too high where Americans will say, “This is too high a price for racism — this is too high a price for fear of replacement theory”? Because this is what this is about, right? These mass deportations aren’t about criminals and gang members because they’re not. They’re deporting, you know, working people who happen to be brown. And we know the architects of this are steeped in white nationalism, and it’s the fear of replacement theory. So let’s call a thing what it is. And I — and I — and I hope — I hope that in middle America they’ll go, “This is too high a price,” and, “This doesn’t make any sense.” But there’s an awful lot of American history that tells me not to be so doggone optimistic about that.
(…)
MENENDEZ: It is amazing to me that Republicans have sold this fake idea that immigrants are changing the fabric of this country when, in fact, it is Republicans who are trying to do exactly that.”
