As Congressman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) appeared as a guest on Sunday's The Weekend, MSNBC fill-in co-host Jason Johnson wondered what might be done to deter potential job applicants from answering Homeland Security's push to recruit more ICE agents.
The MSNBC host noted that, now that ICE is receiving more money from Congress, he has been seeing ads offering generous pay for new hires. Portraying ICE officers as dragging people away from churches, he provocatively posed:
What we're looking at is a situation where ICE is not just emboldened by this administration, but they're making these jobs look awful attractive. Is there anything that Congress can do to make this seem less appealing? Because right now, regardless of what color I am, if I am a young man or a young woman out of work, ICE seems like the place to go in the federal government because I'm not going to get a job at NPR, I'm not going to get a job as a teacher, but I can get a job to put on a mask and yank people off the street from churches.
After Congressman Espaillat's audio initially did not work, Skye Perryman of the left-wing group Democracy Forward was given a chance to respond, and she tore into the Trump administration: "I'll just say, this is -- this shows you the bankrupt situation that this administration is trying to sell to the American people."
After Johnson injected, "Right," she continued:
They have, first of all, decimated jobs and public servants who have been keeping our communities safe, right? They've decimated those jobs. Now, they're out trying to sell the American people a bill of goods, but I'll tell you, I don't think they're buying it. We already saw the heads of the sheriff's associations and sheriff's departments in places in the country where they say, like, "We sort of support what we thought the administration's agenda was, but this is making our communities less safe, you're not engaging in partnership," and I really think this is starting to show the shell game that this administration is playing, and we're seeing that the American people are getting it.
Then she ended on a bizarre note: "To keep communities safe, they want to take people that are keeping our communities safe away in order to put them in a system that really is not about immigration. This was never about immigration. This is about a brute abuse of power that is offensive to the American people."
After the congressman's audio was back on, co-host Eugene Daniels introduced a clip of ICE officers breaking the car glass in which the occupants were arguing with them and refusing to get out. Even though breaking a car window can be legally justified if the occupant of a vehicle refuses to comply with orders to get out, the congressman received no pushback after he responded:
Totally illegal. We see how they do that time and time again. In addition to that, we see how ICE officers are masked. You know, they're enforcing the law anonymously without a first name, a last name, a badge number. No law enforcement -- no New York City police officer -- no state law enforcement person or the feds should enforce the law anonymously. ...
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's The Weekend
August 3, 2025
8:41 a.m. Eastern
JASON JOHNSON: Congressman, I want to follow up on this, and we've talked about what ICE is doing -- what the negative impact is. Let's talk about ICE itself. Now, I don't know what your algorithm -- your staff's algorithm looks like -- I'm seeing ads all the time. "New ICE jobs $100,000 a year -- $45,000 a year signing bonus." Who gets signing bonuses outside of the NBA? "Possible student loan forgiveness." ... What we're looking at is a situation where ICE is not just emboldened by this administration, but they're making these jobs look awful attractive. Is there anything that Congress can do to make this seem less appealing? Because right now, regardless of what color I am, if I am a young man or a young woman out of work, ICE seems like the place to go in the federal government because I'm not going to get a job at NPR, I'm not going to get a job as a teacher, but I can get a job to put on a mask and yank people off the street from churches.
(Congressman Adriano Espaillat's audio is out.)
EUGENE DANIELS: Looks like we lost the congressman's audio again.
MARIA TERESA KUMAR: Let Skye -- why don't you jump in here?
DANIELS: What do you think about these?
SKYE PERRYMAN, DEMOCRACY FORWARD: I mean, I'll just say, this is -- this shows you the bankrupt situation that this administration is trying to sell to the American people.
JOHNSON: Right.
PERRYMAN: They have, first of all, decimated jobs and public servants who have been keeping our communities safe, right? They've decimated those jobs. Now, they're out trying to sell the American people a bill of goods, but I'll tell you, I don't think they're buying it. We already saw the heads of the sheriff's associations and sheriff's departments in places in the country where they say, like, "We sort of support what we thought the administration's agenda was, but this is making our communities less safe, you're not engaging in partnership," and I really think this is starting to show the shell game that this administration is playing, and we're seeing that the American people are getting it.
KUMAR: And that shell game is part of why the sheriff's association is so mad because they're basically going and poaching law enforcement.
DANIELS: From people who already have jobs.
PERRYMAN: To keep communities safe, they want to take people that are keeping our communities safe away in order to put them in a system that really is not about immigration. This was never about immigration. This is about a brute abuse of power that is offensive to the American people.
DANIELS: Congressman, I want to play some sound from ProPublica of immigration officers smashing a window to get people, and get your response on the other side.
(shows clip dated March 10 from Spokane of officers breaking a car window with those inside refusing to get out)
KUMAR: Congressman, your response to that video.
CONGRESSMAN ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): Totally illegal. We see how they do that time and time again. In addition to that, we see how ICE officers are masked. You know, they're enforcing the law anonymously without a first name, a last name, a badge number. No law enforcement -- no New York City police officer -- no state law enforcement person or the feds should enforce the law anonymously. ...