Dr. Phil McGraw’s cameras were rolling this week as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched a controversial operation targeting illegal immigrants in one of the United State’s biggest sanctuary cities. The former doctor TV host joined President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, to carry out deportation efforts in Chicago, where he filmed several arrests, including interrogating a convicted child-sex offender who tried to defend himself being in the U.S. illegally.
“These are known criminals and terrorists. We’re talking about murderers, child traffickers, child rapists. We’re talking about bad actors, both in the countries they’ve come from and since they’ve been here in the United States,” McGraw said as ICE agents carried out Trump’s border orders.
In one scene, McGraw asked the convicted sex offender and internet predator from Thailand, who had been illegally residing in Chicago, if he had been charged with sex crimes with children. In response, the illegal immigrant brushed off the question, saying, “Not really.”
“Not really!?" McGraw shockingly replied.
The illegal alien insisted he had never been deported and that his mother was a U.S. citizen. He recognized McGraw from his television show and frequently dodged the famous psychologist’s questions.
JUST IN: The first arrest in Chicago with @RealTomHoman was a convicted sex offender and internet predator from Thailand.
— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) January 27, 2025
For full live coverage of the operation, download the MeritTV app. pic.twitter.com/KEcphUWDDJ
Homan chimed in, explaining that the man was a prime example of the shortcomings of Democrat-run sanctuary city policies, saying that he was one of the 270 “high-value targets.”
“We’ve got an illegal alien convicted of sex crimes involving children, and 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’s border czar then ordered ICE agents at the scene to “take him in, process him, and lock him up.”
McGraw called the mission “high risk” because it is a targeted ICE task “because they’re not sweeping neighborhoods like people are trying to imply.” Homan said that Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “want to vilify the men of ICE” for doing something to end illegal immigration that has wreaked havoc on American communities.
Homan also dismissed rumors that ICE agents were entering Chicago Public Schools and arresting illegal immigrants.
Is ICE “going into schools and arresting children at schools… is anything like that happening?” McGraw asked, to which Homan replied, “No.”
LIVE NOW: Dr. Phil and @RealTomHoman are in an ICE Command Center in Chicago.
— Dr. Phil (@DrPhil) January 26, 2025
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
ICE apprehended more than 460 illegal aliens in the early days of Trump’s massive immigration sweep, focusing on undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds. The charges included sexual assault, domestic violence, and weapons-related offenses.