DALLAS — North Texas-based TV host Dr. Phil spoke with President Donald Trump’s ‘border czar’ Tom Homan about the administration’s deportation efforts while embedded with U.S. immigration enforcement officers during an operation in Chicago Sunday.
Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, whose Merit Street Media TV network is based in Fort Worth, followed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and other federal officials during the action, posting about it on his X account.
McGraw spoke at a Trump campaign rally in October and defended what he called the new administration’s “targeted” immigration enforcement approach in a video on X, in which he said ICE aimed to pick 270 “high-value” targets.
“They’re not sweeping neighborhoods like people are trying to imply,” McGraw said.
Dr Phil is embedded with @RealTomHoman for ICE operation in Chicago. For full live coverage of the operation, download the MeritTV app. pic.twitter.com/Q5lI8589AM
— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) January 26, 2025
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it made 956 arrests nationwide on Sunday and 286 on Saturday in an operation that involved immigration agents from the DHS along with agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ICE averaged 311 daily arrests in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
In North Texas, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed 84 were arrested across North Texas on Sunday during immigration enforcement operations.
The actions come after the Trump administration deputized law enforcement agents with several Justice Department agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, DEA and others to conduct immigration enforcement.
During the operations in Chicago, McGraw questions Homan about the nature of the immigration enforcement actions. In response, Homan denied that agents are going into schools and arresting children there.
“We go into businesses for a criminal enforcement operation, but again, sweeps do not occur anywhere,” Homan added.
LIVE NOW: Dr. Phil and @RealTomHoman are in an ICE Command Center in Chicago. Dr. Phil: Are you going into schools and arresting children at schools?Tom Homan: No. Dr. Phil: Is anything like that happening?Tom Homan: No sir. pic.twitter.com/ELvIDDM6SN
— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) January 26, 2025
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said he observed immigration agents from the DHS along with agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“We will support everyone at the federal, state, and local levels who joins this critical mission to take back our communities,” Bove said in a statement. “We will use all available tools to address obstruction and other unlawful impediments to our efforts to protect the homeland. Most importantly, we will not rest until the work is done.”