Scarborough Finally Admits Trump Promised Mass Deportation -- Not Just 'The Worst'

After repeated claims on his Morning Joe program that President Donald Trump promised to "only" target "the worst of the worst" illegal aliens, and that he was therefore breaking a promise by including all illegal aliens, MS NOW's Joe Scarborough on Tuesday finally admitted that Trump promised mass deportation, and not just of "the worst."

But the only reason Scarborough suddenly made this self-contradictory admission was because he was trying to call out Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) for her own recent claims that she was expecting Trump to only deport violent criminals and more recent arrivals.

Co-host Willie Geist echoed the show's fixation on whether President Trump is deporting "the worst of the worst" as he set up the story: "We're so clearly and so obviously well past the worst of the worst when you see a Doordash driver seeking asylum being effectively run off the road by ICE officers and shot in the back, and this is having real implications."

He continued: "Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida getting national attention for appearing to change her position on President Trump and his immigration policy. Here is what she said during the 2024 campaign, compared to the ad she released just last week."

After playing a clip of Salazar from 2024 predicting that President Trump would not deport illegals who were not violent criminals, followed by more recent clips in which she accused the President of deporting too aggressively, Geist went to progressive influencer Carlos Eduardo Espina for his reaction. Espina tore into the Republican congresswoman and contradicted MS NOW's narrative that Trump promised to "only" deport violent criminals.

When Scarborough had his turn to speak, he echoed his liberal guest's claims that Trump had clearly promised to deport more than just the worst even though the MS NOW host has been saying the opposite for almost a year.  Here's Scarborough:

I'm getting a little tired of hearing politicians who are now scared because of the extremism in this immigration policy, saying, "Oh, I never saw this coming. I had no idea this is going to -- I voted for him three times and they took my wife away. How could they? I just -- I'm so shocked. I'm so stunned."

The MS NOW host then recalled a Trump campaign speech in which he clearly promised mass deportation:

No, I wonder where all of these people were the day that he stood behind a podium in Michigan and promised a bloody deportation. Let me say it again for the congresswoman in Miami, Donald Trump, just a year and a half ago on the campaign trail, in a speech you certainly must have heard, promised not just immigrants -- not just deporting the worst of the worst, he promised, as Carlos said, millions and millions of people being deported, and that it would be a, quote, bloody deportation. And here we are. So please don't act shocked, stunned, and deeply saddened because you're not.

But there's a whole list of times since last year when the co-hosts or regular guests on Morning Joe, not to mention other MS NOW shows, have stated just the opposite to claim Trump was breaking a promise by not limiting his deportations to "only" the worst.

For example, on August 27, Scarborough stated: "And we say this every time one of these stories comes up. Show us that this is the worst of the worst. They can't. The promise was we were getting rapists and murderers out of the country -- not people in communities often for decades working jobs with children being taken off the streets by ICE..."

On August 4, he asked: "Is there any starker example -- any starker illustration, Sam (Stein), of how much this administration has lied to America about going after the worst of the worst -- only the worst of the worst?"

The examples go all the way back to last December.

Transcripts follow:

MS NOW's Morning Joe

September 22, 2026

6:44 a.m. Eastern

WILLIE GEIST: We're so clearly and so obviously well past the worst of the worst when you see a Doordash driver seeking asylum being effectively run off the road by ICE officers and shot in the back, and this is having real implications. Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida getting national attention for appearing to change her position on President Trump and his immigration policy. Here is what she said during the 2024 campaign, compared to the ad she released just last week.

CONGRESSWOMAN MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR (R-FL) (from the PBS NewsHour, dated November 2024): The deportation is going to be among those criminals who are the gang members, the gotaways, the Tren de Aragua. I am sure not all --

AMNA NAWAZ, PBS HOST: Not all 200,000 undocumented in your community? Is that what you're saying?

CONGRESSWOMAN SALAZAR: That -- I am sure that we're not -- that the Trump administration is not going to be targeting those people who have been here for more than five years, that have American kids, that don't have criminal records, that have been working in the economy and paying taxes.

CONGRESSWOMAN SALAZAR (in recent ad): Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50 percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today. You can be for immigration, but Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism. I'm not talking about giving them amnesty. I'm talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land. And only you can do that.

GEIST: Same congresswoman less than two years apart. Now, after the release of that ad, Congresswoman Salazar met with President Trump and then spoke to CBS News about that conversation.

CONGRESSWOMAN SALAZAR (from CBS's Face the Nation): It was a very good conversation. He was a gentleman, very courteous, very receptive. And I told him exactly what you just repeated: "Sir, you have this this moment in history where you can keep the pot of gold that you brought to the GOP in 2024. No other President -- and, you know, I covered for 35 years Spanish television -- no other President was able to convince the Hispanics to vote 55 points for a GOP President. Please preserve that fortune that you have brought to the party."

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Except just a few months ago, she voted for funding for ICE -- billions of dollars. I mean, she's been on board until when? Just a few days ago?

GEIST: Well, she put out that ad because she hears the footsteps coming this fall for her and many Republicans, in part because of this immigration policy. I'm curious from your point of view, and you can address Congresswoman Salazar in Florida, but also you're based in Houston. You've got a front row seat to what's happening there with James Talarico and Ken Paxton. How important is this issue of ICE, of deportations, of immigration policy to that race in Texas?

CARLOS EDUARDO ESPINA, PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL INFLUENCER: Well, I'm going to be very blunt. Any elected official who is now pretending 40 something days away from the election, like they're surprised by what's happening on immigration or any other issue under the Trump administration, is either lying to you or they're not very smart. And whichever one of those two it is, they're just not fit for office. I don't understand how Maria Elvira Salazar can be surprised with what's happening when it was literally laid out in the campaign, it was called Project 2025. He would go on the campaign trail, Donald Trump, and say, "We're going to get rid of 10, 15 million illegal aliens in this country." Who do you think he's talking about?

We know there's criminals in the immigrant community, but it's nowhere near 10 or 15 million. So now they're acting surprised because, like you said, there's a lot of U.S. citizens who maybe are not personally affected by this issue themselves, but they're married to an immigrant, they have immigrant parents, they have immigrant family members, community members, and they're starting to say, "Hey, I don't like this." Maybe a lot of people who don't even vote, and they're saying, "I'm going to vote for the first time because this has me fed up. I'm scared. I'm worried for people that I care about." And this is affecting the polls in Florida. It's affecting in Texas. And I think it's going to be one of the big drivers that's going to lead to a massive change in November.

JONATHAN LEMIRE: But there's also fear, though, this fall about, you know, whether Democrats have started to wonder if people will come out to the polls because of fear of these agents. And just last week, Tom Homan did not rule out the idea that ICE agents would be sent to polling places.

BRZEZINSKI: Well, and, Joe, that's one of many terrifying angles on this story.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, I mean, you know, that's -- that's why you have lawyers like Norm Eisen and others that are fighting every day -- Skye Perryman, others that are fighting every day to make sure that people can go to the polls, they can go there peacefully, and they can exercise their right to vote in this country and have a say in where this country goes in the next couple of years. And I hope that everybody will sit back and listen to what the politicians are saying this year because I'm getting a little tired of hearing politicians who are now scared because of the extremism in this immigration policy, saying, "Oh, I never saw this coming. I had no idea this is going to -- I voted for him three times and they took my wife away. How could they? I just -- I'm so shocked. I'm so stunned."

No, I wonder where all of these people were the day that he stood behind a podium in Michigan and promised a bloody deportation. Let me say it again for the congresswoman in Miami, Donald Trump, just a year and a half ago on the campaign trail, in a speech you certainly must have heard, promised not just immigrants, not just deporting the worst of the worst, he promised, as Carlos said, millions and millions of people being deported, and that it would be a, quote, bloody deportation. And here we are. So please don't act shocked, stunned, and deeply saddened because you're not.

BRZEZINSKI: No, deportations like you've never seen before. He used the word bloody, and the congresswoman funded -- continued to fund this very effort that was under way and proven to be dangerous, terrifying, and even deadly.

(...)

MS NOW's Morning Joe

December 4, 2025

7:53 a.m. Eastern

JOE SCARBOROUGH: And what a lie -- what a total lie to say we're only going after the worst of the worst.

(...)

January 14, 2026

6:34 a.m.

WILLIE GEIST: "The idea that they're just going after the worst of the worst, as was promised during the campaign, is just not true."

(...)

January 29, 2026

6:12 a.m.

GEIST: They're not going after the worst of the worst, as promised.

(...)

February 24, 2026

7:24 a.m.

CLAIRE McCASKILL, MS NOW CONTRIBUTOR: They said only the worst of the worst is what they were going to go after.

(...)

May 4, 2026

9:25 a.m.

JONATHAN LEMIRE: And it wasn't just what was promised, when Trump said during the campaign, "Oh, just the worst of the worst."

(...)

May 19, 2026

7:27 a.m.

SCARBOROUGH: The great lie is that they're only going after the worst of the worst. That is a lie.

(...)

May 29, 2026

7:05 a.m.

SCARBOROUGH: ...constant lies being told by administration officials who were saying, "Oh, we're only getting the worst of the worst." No, they aren't."

(...)

May 29, 2026

7:13 a.m.

LEMIRE: We have gone over repeatedly about President Trump's original promise, that it would just be the worst of the worst. And that's clearly not the case.

(...)

June 2, 2026

7:10 a.m.

LEMIRE: The Trump administration came to office saying we're going to detain and deport just the worst of the worst. Is that who you found in that hall?

CONGRESSMAN ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): Total lie.

(...)

July 15, 2026

7:12 a.m.

LEMIRE: His original promise was that these deportation program was going to focus on the worst of the worst. Not only has that not happened...

(...)

August 14, 2026

6:39 a.m.

SCARBOROUGH: Is there any starker example -- any starker illustration, Sam, of how much this administration has lied to America about going after the worst of the worst -- only the worst of the worst?

(...)

August 20, 2026

6:03 a.m.

SCARBOROUGH: ...heinous, hateful immigration policies that went well beyond what he promised. The worst of the worst? Not even close. We're going after people who are fighting our wars. We're going after people who are building our communities.

(...)

August 27, 2026

7:43 a.m.

SCARBOROUGH: And we say this every time one of these stories comes up. Show us that this is the worst of the worst. They can't. The promise was we were getting rapists and murderers out of the country -- not people in communities often for decades working jobs with children being taken off the streets by ICE...

(...)

August 28, 2026

7:07 a.m.

GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): Everybody who voted for Donald Trump believed he was going after the worst of the worst. That's what he promised. That was a flat-out lie.

(...)

September 17, 2026

6:10 a.m.

SCARBOROUGH: Every promise made they've lied about -- even the promise about only going after the worst of the worst. We now, thanks to J.D.'s administration, have Americans being gunned down in the street, shot execution-style -- it certainly looked like Alex Pretti got shot execution-style. You had young guys that were going to enlist in the Marines -- American citizens being stopped, dragged out of their cars, kicked, beaten. The worst of the worst? They just lie when telling the truth would be easier for them. They just keep lying.

(...)

September 21, 2026

7:15 a.m.

LEMIRE: This is not what Trump voters -- Americans wanted two years ago, Katty, when Trump promised we'll get out the worst of the worst. The ICE agents and the deportation push has gone far beyond that.