On Saturday afternoon, MSNBC host Alex Witt gave no pushback when freshman Congresswoman Julie Johnson (D-Texas) responded to a terrorist attack on ICE agents by seeming to justify it as she accused agents of "terroristic" behavior. She also seemed to call the attack part of "a generalized frustration" against ICE's "unreasonable clampdown" and "a response to an outrage."
After beginning the segment by discussing an ICE agent who was caught on video slamming a woman to the floor in a Manhattan courthouse, Witt pivoted to the attack on an ICE facility in Dallas:
Well, some outrage after Wednesday's fatal shooting at a Dallas ICE field -- field office rather. It was at least the fourth instance of violence at a Texas facility this year. The acting U.S. attorney for the district said that the suspect was motivated by hatred of ICE agents and committed, quote, "the very definition of terrorism." So do you think these incidents reflect an organized pattern of violence or multiple violent lone actors?
Instead of doing the decent thing and condemning the attack, the Texas Democrat immediately started trashing ICE and seemed to rationalize such violence:
I think they're multiple violent lone actors. You know, I think that what you're seeing is a generalized frustration in this country of what is happening -- this unreasonable clampdown on people who are just here to work. You know, I toured an ICE facility about two weeks ago just outside of Dallas, and, you know, over 70 percent of the people there had never -- had no criminal history whatsoever.
After recalling the case of an illegal alien who was arrested after working in construction for 26 years, the congresswoman took another shot at ICE as she concluded:
This is what you're seeing is a response to an outrage. This is not the American government -- this is not the values of democracy -- this is not who we've historically been as a country and what we stand for, the way we're having this unreasonable, terroristic, fear-inducing pattern of ICE and how they're interacting with the community, and you're seeing a very frustrated response by the American people.
Instead of asking her guest if she was defending violence against ICE, Witt just switched topics.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's Alex Witt Reports
September 27, 2025
1:43 p.m. Eastern
ALEX WITT: Well, some outrage after Wednesday's fatal shooting at a Dallas ICE field -- field office rather. It was at least the fourth instance of violence at a Texas facility this year. The acting U.S. attorney for the district said that the suspect was motivated by hatred of ICE agents and committed, quote, "the very definition of terrorism." So do you think these incidents reflect an organized pattern of violence or multiple violent lone actors?
CONGRESSWOMAN JULIE JOHNSON (D-TEXAS): I think they're multiple violent lone actors. You know, I think that what you're seeing is a generalized frustration in this country of what is happening -- this unreasonable clampdown on people who are just here to work. You know, I toured an ICE facility about two weeks ago just outside of Dallas, and, you know, over 70 percent of the people there had never -- had no criminal history whatsoever.
So this ICE roundup is not of violent criminals as the administration is trying to project -- these are folks like one gentleman who had been working in this country for 26 years in construction and has four children born in this country who are American citizens. Now, who's going to care for them? This is what you're seeing is a response to an outrage. This is not the American government -- this is not the values of democracy -- this is not who we've historically been as a country and what we stand for, the way we're having this unreasonable, terroristic, fear-inducing pattern of ICE and how they're interacting with the community, and you're seeing a very frustrated response by the American people.
WITT: Let me ask you about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has ordered hundreds of senior military offers to -- officers rather -- to Washington next week...