On Sunday's The Weekend: Primetime, the MSNBC hosts did not give pushback after an Illinois Democrat congressional candidate decried ICE agents as "goons" and "cowards" and called on Chicago residents to obstruct them while they are trying to arrest illegal aliens.
This escalatory rhetoric and push for what sounds like law-breaking came later in the day after MSNBC host Ali Velshi had presided over a segment which portrayed lawbreaking as an acceptable way of resisting the Donald Trump administration.
After congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh declared that "the majority of people in Chicago don't want masked goons coming into our community, kidnapping our neighbors off the street," fill-in co-host Molly Jong-Fast brought up Mayor Brandon Johnson (D-Chicago) trying to make it illegal for ICE agents to wear masks:
Kat, your mayor has put together a sort of -- he has an announcement about some kind of an executive order ... about the masks -- the ICE people wearing masks. Nobody likes that. That is wildly unpopular and super-scary and very un-American. Do you think that's a good targeted way to combat that? And do you support that? And will it work?
In her response, the Chicago Democrat declared:
It's not alarmist to say that these are goons -- this is a secret police that is going into our cities to kidnap people -- abduct people off the streets, many of whom have not committed any crimes, many of whom are American citizens. And I really encourage our leaders to recognize the seriousness of this and communicate it. It's the same with RFK Jr. right now. We need to tell Americans, "You need to get vaccinated now while you still can. You need to fight back against ICE now while you still can.
Co-host Ayman Mohyeldin followed up: "Okay, you say, 'fight against ICE now.' I'm curious to get your thoughts on what needs to be done to defend immigrant communities in Chicago. What does that look like when you say, 'fight against ICE'?"
After calling ICE agents "cowards" for having food delivered to them to avoid protesters, she added:
That is why they wear masks. They know what they're doing is wrong. It is important -- especially if you have a platform, if you have a privilege, if you have power to stand against these people -- call them out publicly. If it is -- if you are able to - and I'm not encouraging people to put them or their families in danger -- but if you are able to, physically stand between your neighbors and ICE. I promise to do that if any of our voters -- any of my constituents as a congresswoman if I'm elected -- if ICE is coming after them, I will stand between them, and anyone who has a platform needs to be doing that right now.
No one called out the far-left Democrat for her incendiary attacks on ICE agents or questioned whether what she called for would be breaking the law.
The only contrarian questioning she received was from earlier in the interview when co-host Elise Jordan asked about polling finding that most Americans believe crime in big cities is a problem and if running against lowering crime could be an electoral loser for Democrats (click "expand"):
Kat, do you think that this issue could be a political loser for Democrats opposing Donald Trump and his offer of federal intervention given that you look at some of the recent polling, just today from the AP, and a majority of Americans -- right, left, Republican, Democrat -- do believe that crime is out of control in urban cities, and around 64 percent support some kind of federal intervention? They may not support what Trump is doing, and they may not like troops on the ground, but they support the idea of being tougher on crime.
(....)
But, at the same time, the murder rate is high in Chicago, so voters do want to see that being addressed -- perhaps not in the way that Trump is proposing -- but what are -- what can Democrats do to address those concerns about crime?
Transcript follows. Click "expand" to read.
MSNBC's The Weekend: Primetime
August 31, 2025
8:32 p.m. EasternAYMAN MOHYELDIN: Let's start with your potential constituents if you were to win. What are you hearing from the residents in those neighborhoods in that community about these threats from Donald Trump?
KAT ABUGHAZALEH, (D-ILLINOIS CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE): Yeah, I mean, we have already seen people in the Ninth district to be kidnapped by ICE, some of them being held at detention facilities that are supposed to be detention facilities where people are only held for 12 hours at a time, but because ICE doesn't want to do that, they're not given blankets or proper housing essentially. They are sleeping on concrete floors and held for days or even weeks at a time. In my own neighborhood in Rogers Park, we have patrols -- people that respond to ICE when or if they are seen. And we're seeing that across the Chicago area. My own campaign office, for instance, serves as a mutual aid hub where people can get food, water, clothes, but it's also a place where anyone is welcome except ICE. And we're seeing that at a lot of places in Chicago, and I encourage everyone to adopt similar policies.
ELISE JORDAN: Kat, do you think that this issue could be a political loser for Democrats opposing Donald Trump and his offer of federal intervention given that you look at some of the recent polling, just today from the AP, and a majority of Americans -- right, left, Republican, Democrat -- do believe that crime is out of control in urban cities, and around 64 percent support some kind of federal intervention? They may not support what Trump is doing, and they may not like troops on the ground, but they support the idea of being tougher on crime.
ABUGHAZALEH: What we've seen in cities across America, including Chicago, is that crime is actually down, but you have people on the right -- including Trump, including Fox News -- that are pushing narratives that crime is up so that way they can consolidate their own power. And that includes ICE. And I can guarantee that the majority of people in Chicago don't want masked goons coming into our community, kidnapping our neighbors off the street, and essentially just being able to do whatever the hell they want without identifying themselves. Frankly, I think this idea that we need to send in the federal government -- send in our own military against our own people to match up with a narrative that Trump has created -- it makes no sense, it's unpopular for the people actually living in these cities and it's dangerous. And Chicago has been through this before. We're about to go into Labor Day, which was created after the Pullman Strike when Grover Cleveland sent in U.S. marshals and the U.S. Army to attack workers who were striking. Chicago is a favorite cudgel for authoritarians, and they're just doing this again. But we're prepared.
JORDAN: But, at the same time, the murder rate is high in Chicago, so voters do want to see that being addressed -- perhaps not in the way that Trump is proposing -- but what are -- what can Democrats do to address those concerns about crime?
ABUGHAZALEH: The biggest way you can fight crime is meeting people's material needs. That goes for almost every negative consequence we see across the country -- across the world. When people's material needs are met, they are less likely to fall for misinformation, they are more likely to be able to get education. They can afford housing. They can live lives that all of us want to live. But the problem is, is that the system is built so that the average American can't afford housing, groceries or health care. It's what I call basic existence, which you can find on my website, KatForIllinois.com. But it's a very simple concept in most of our peer countries. Yet here we act as if it's some pipe dream.
MOLLY JONG-FAST: Kat, your mayor has put together a sort of, you know, a -- he has an announcement about some kind of an executive order -- sorry -- an executive order about the masks -- the ICE people wearing masks. Nobody likes that. That is wildly unpopular and super-scary and very un-American. Do you think that's a good targeted way to combat that? And do you support that? And will it work?
ABUGHAZALEH: Oh, absolutely. I think every single city in the country should adopt similar tactics. Having masked men who don't have to identify themselves on the street -- it's not only scary, it's incredibly dangerous. We're already seeing people be impostors of ICE agents and assaulting women that they just take off the street. This is the precedent that we're setting, and I think we can't pretend like this is fine. It's not alarmist to say that these are goons -- this is a secret police that is going into our cities to kidnap people -- abduct people off the streets, many of whom have not committed any crimes, many of whom are American citizens. And I really encourage our leaders to recognize the seriousness of this and communicate it. It's the same with RFK Jr. right now. We need to tell Americans, "You need to get vaccinated now while you still can. You need to fight back against ICE now while you still can." You need to be getting everything you possibly can to prepare for the rest of this administration so that way we can build something better after.
MOHYELDIN: Okay, you say, "fight against ICE now." I'm curious to get your thoughts on what needs to be done to defend immigrant communities in Chicago. What does that look like when you say, "fight against ICE"?
ABUGHAZALEH: Yeah, what we've seen over and over again is ICE agents are cowards. When neighborhoods say, "get out of our neighborhood," they do. I was protesting at the detention facility out in Broadview, and they called in Uber Eats for dinner and made the driver come inside because they were scared of a bunch of peaceful protesters that were standing outside. That is why they wear masks. They know what they're doing is wrong. It is important -- especially if you have a platform, if you have a privilege, if you have power to stand against these people -- call them out publicly. If it is -- if you are able to - and I'm not encouraging people to put them or their families in danger -- but if you are able to, physically stand between your neighbors and ICE. I promise to do that if any of our voters -- any of my constituents as a congresswoman if I'm elected -- if ICE is coming after them, I will stand between them, and anyone who has a platform needs to be doing that right now. We also need to ensure that people know their rights. We're actually doing a "know your rights" campaign at campuses in and around the Ninth District with business-sized cards so that way people can have them in their wallet in their pocket in case they are detained by ICE. ICE notoriously hates Chicago because we do know our rights. This is the only place where Trump has ever canceled a rally because he's scared of protesters. We need to make sure people know what is happening, know their rights, know that their communities are behind them, and also have resources available for people as their material needs aren't being met.
JORDAN: Kat, thanks so much for being with us.