Former MSNBC host and inflammatory hot take peddler Joy Reid wasn’t very joyful on her Saturday podcast. As Reid tells it, the new ICE detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” will be a “concentration camp” for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to put unwanted “brown people” in because “This is like being in Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.”
Reid huffed that, “We tried to forget about him, but Ron DeSantis is still governor of Florida. He took the Comfy Couch hosts on a tour of the concentration camp that he's building in Florida in order to round up people, brown people, and throw them in a camp because he doesn't want them in Florida. Surprise, surprise, the economy of Florida is gonna be severely harmed by rounding up brown people who, by the way, all over this country, Latinos are afraid to go to work.”
Claiming to know what goes on in the mind of every Latino, Reid continued, “Anybody who is perceived or looks Latino is afraid to go to work. I know people who are not Latino, but they're brown, and so they look Latino to the naked eye if you don't know any better, who are walking around with their passports. Who never leave home without a passport because this is a question I want to ask the audience. How would you prove you're a citizen?”
She then claimed, “Even if you're not actually taken into custody, imagine being a brown person in this country right now where you can't even walk the streets without fear of being tackled by random people with masks on. That's who we are now. This is like being in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.”
Reid then listed several Republican politicians and suggested that they have benefited from the understanding of birthright citizenship that President Trump now seeks to change, “I want to note for you guys just for a moment, Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz, that's real name: Rafael, he goes by Ted. Rafael Cruz was born in 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His father, Rafael Senior, is from Cuba. He was born in Cuba. He's a naturalized citizen. His mother is from Delaware. She's a white American woman. When Ted Cruz was running for president, far-right people said maybe he can't be president because they don't, they're not sure how much of an American he is.”
She also cited, “Marco Rubio's parents were both born in Cuba. They came to this country. He used to try to claim that they came to escape Fidel Castro. That's not actually true. They came during the Batista era, and they came to this country, and he was born here, so he is an American citizen by birthright citizenship. That's literally why he's a birthright citizen.”
Also on her list was, “John McCain was born to American parents on a US military base abroad. He's a citizen by virtue of the same system of birthright citizenship. He's an American because he's an American.”
Finally, Reid wondered “Are Elon Musk's kids’ citizens? Is X a citizen? Because his mother, whose name—goes by Grimes, the singer, she's Canadian. And Elon's a naturalized citizen. If Trump gets mad at him again, what he wants for himself is the ability to just say, 'You're not a citizen anymore,' and delist him as a citizen and send him back to South Africa.”
Cruz, McCain, and Musk’s kids having an American parent would mean they would be unaffected by any changes in the interpretation of the 14th Amendment. As for Rubio, even others who have accused him of embellishing his family story have conceded his parents were lawful permanent residents. Trump’s executive order explicitly says that children of lawful permanent residents are still entitled to citizenship.
Here is a transcript for the June 28 show:
The Joy Reid Show
6/28/2025
30 Minutes, 40 Seconds
JOY REID: And I will note that, you know, we tried to forget about him, but Ron DeSantis is still governor of Florida. He took the Comfy Couch hosts on a tour of the concentration camp that he's building in Florida in order to round up people, brown people, and throw them in a camp because he doesn't want them in Florida. Surprise, surprise, the economy of Florida is gonna be severely harmed by rounding up brown people who, by the way, all over this country, Latinos are afraid to go to work.
Anybody who is perceived or looks Latino is afraid to go to work. I know people who are not Latino, but they're brown, and so they look Latino to the naked eye if you don't know any better, who are walking around with their passports. Who never leave home without a passport because this is a question I want to ask the audience. How would you prove you're a citizen? If ICE came up to you and dragged you off, how would you prove it? I mean, do you have any proof that you're a citizen? There have been even cases where people show their REAL ID, their REAL ID with a little star on it, and that still wasn't believed. They've still been rousted, they've still been harassed.
And even if you're not actually taken into custody, imagine being a brown person in this country right now where you can't even walk the streets without fear of being tackled by random people with masks on. That's who we are now. This is like being in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.
I want to note for you guys just for a moment, Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz, that's real name: Rafael, he goes by Ted. Rafael Cruz was born in 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His father, Rafael Senior, is from Cuba. He was born in Cuba. He's a naturalized citizen. His mother is from Delaware. She's a white American woman. When Ted Cruz was running for president, far-right people said maybe he can't be president because they don't, they're not sure how much of an American he is. Marco Rubio, Marco Rubio's parents were both born in Cuba. They came to this country. He used to try to claim that they came to escape Fidel Castro. That's not actually true. They came during the Batista era, and they came to this country, and he was born here, so he is an American citizen by birthright citizenship. That's literally why he's a birthright citizen.
I mentioned John McCain. John McCain was born to American parents on a US military base abroad. He's a citizen by virtue of the same system of birthright citizenship. He's an American because he's an American. I wonder if, I don't know, the next time Donald Trump has a beef with Elon Musk, are Elon Musk's kids’ citizens? Is X a citizen? Because his mother, whose name—goes by Grimes, the singer, she's Canadian. And Elon's a naturalized citizen. If Trump gets mad at him again, what he wants for himself is the ability to just say, “You're not a citizen anymore,” and delist him as a citizen and send him back to South Africa. By the way, they don’t want him.
