Dr. Phil joins ICE team and border czar Tom Homan for Chicago deportation operations
Dr. Phil embedded with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) team in Chicago as they carried out deportation operations under the new Trump administration.
Phil McGraw, known as "Dr. Phil," joined border czar Tom Homan and a team of agents on Sunday as they took various illegal immigrants into custody. This comes after Homan declared that Chicago would be "ground zero" for immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump's mass deportation plans.
As part of his show on Merit TV, Dr. Phil filmed a variety of arrests—at one point interviewing a convicted sex offender and internet predator from Thailand who was residing illegally in The Windy City.
"You've been charged with sex crimes with children?" Dr. Phil asked.
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"Not really," the man replied.
"Not really!?" Dr. Phil exclaimed.
The man claimed that he had never been deported and that his mother was a U.S. citizen. He also recognized Dr. Phil from his television appearances, often avoiding the famous psychologist's questions.
Homan told Dr. Phil that the man was an example of failed sanctuary city policies.
"We got an illegal alien, convicted of sex crimes involving children. He's walking the streets of Chicago," Homan said. "Again, the downfall, the problems with the sanctuary city—people like this walking the streets, rather than local law enforcement working with federal agents. This is what we're dealing with."
Trump has criticized sanctuary cities, including Chicago, for resisting federal immigration policies. "We're trying to get rid of them (sanctuary cities). We're trying to end them. And a lot of the people in those communities don't want them," Trump told Fox's Sean Hannity last Wednesday.
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Dr. Phil revealed on the show that he had to be briefed on extensive security protocols as part of the "high-risk mission."
"This truly is a targeted ICE mission because they're not sweeping neighborhoods like people are trying to imply," he said. "I know that because I've been involved heading into this. They've identified 270 high-value targets, and what I mean by that is that these are known criminals and terrorists."
ICE arrested over 460 individuals in the first days of an immigration sweep, targeting undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Offenses included sexual assault, domestic violence, and weapons crimes.
During a conversation at a Chicago-based ICE command center, Dr. Phil asked if agents were going into schools to arrest children who were in the U.S. illegally.
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"Is anything like that happening?" he asked.
"No, sir," Homan said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has committed to shielding the city's migrant population from federal immigration crackdowns, vowing to uphold the city's sanctuary city policies.
"I find it unconscionable that this administration would attempt to create not just division but fear within our public schools," Johnson said, referring to potential federal raids. He directed city departments to "stand firm and uphold the local ordinance" in compliance with the Illinois Trust Act, which prohibits local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Fox News' Madison Colombo contributed to this report.