Wednesday’s Morning Joe brought more of that trademark misinformation MS NOW failed to shake during its rebrand. Co-host Joe Scarborough repeated his mischaracterization of the Catholic on immigration and even labeled himself as a “conservative” on border policy.
As if it were an indictment on U.S. immigration policy, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius pitied a bunch of “suffering” Salvadoran prisoners who appeared in a video posted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem: "I hate to say it, but that's a photograph that 30, 40, 50 years from now, people will look at and they'll be shocked. They will look at that and they'll wonder, ‘Who were these people? How could they have done that?’ […] that's an image, sadly, that will stand for this period that we're living in now.”
If you know anything about El Salvador’s strict law enforcement under President Nayib Bukele, you’ll know those incarcerated certainly deserve the treatment they’ve received. For Ignatius to feel sympathy for the worst of the worst would be absurd.
Scarborough concurred with Ignatius’ “brilliant” observation and, once again, invoked Catholic reproach for treatment of immigrants without mentioning their support for the law:
And if you wonder why Pope Leo, and if you wonder why the archbishops of the Catholic Church, and you wonder why priests are reading Pope Leo's messages to congregants across America talking about the moral crisis going on right now with harsh immigration policies.
Nearly a week prior, Scarborough and his Morning Joe cohort selectively promoted portions of Catholic officials’ positions on U.S. immigration enforcement while leaving out statements that affirmed the need for border security.
Scarborough tried cover-up the omission by qualifying his remark:
We're not talking about upholding the law. As I've said for 32 years in public service, I think it's a problem when you come to America and the first thing that you do is an illegal action. So, I'm pretty conservative on this stuff, more conservative than a lot of my Republicans I served with in Congress on it.
Really? Scarborough’s “pretty conservative” on the border?
In 2018, he compared the separation of families to Nazi procedure. In April of 2022, he claimed Trump would treat migrants like a “thug” if Biden wasn’t more humanitarian. In September of 2022, he accused Republican politicians of “political human trafficking.” In November of 2023, he lamented small businesses not having enough immigrant labor. And back in July, Scarborough actually defended the intentions of sanctuary city advocates.
Scarborough may not be a total liberal nut on border security, but he’s far from being the conservative he claims to have been.
He ended by exaggerating the extent of ICE’s immigration enforcement operations: “And the inhumanity, the un-Christ-like behavior of how these mothers and children and grandparents are being dragged out of school lines, are being dragged out of preschools, are being treated in the worst, most despicable ways.”
Pretty sure that just happened once, which, shockingly, Scarborough also misreported.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" read:
MS NOW’s Morning Joe
November 26, 2025
6:19:06 a.m. EST
DAVID IGNATIUS: Just to say one last thing, that picture that you showed earlier of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, in the, kind of, glamorous outfit standing in front of a prison with these half-naked men suffering. I hate to say it, but that's a photograph that 30, 40, 50 years from now, people will look at —
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.
IGNATIUS: — and they'll be shocked. They will look at that and they'll wonder, “Who were these people? How could they have done that?” And I think that's just something we should all — think that's an image, sadly, that will stand for this period that we're living in now.
SCARBOROUGH: There's no doubt, David, it's so brilliantly said. 50 years from now, people will be looking at this time period and they will be looking at that video image.
And if you wonder why Pope Leo, and if you wonder why the archbishops of the Catholic Church, and you wonder why priests are reading Pope Leo's messages to congregants across America talking about the moral crisis going on right now with harsh immigration policies.
We're not talking about upholding the law.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: As I've said for 32 years in public service, I think it's a problem when you come to America and the first thing that you do is an illegal action. So, I'm pretty conservative on this stuff, more conservative than a lot of my Republicans I served with in Congress on it. That said, you can do two things at once.
And the inhumanity, the un-Christ-like behavior of how these mothers and children and grandparents are being dragged out of school lines, are being dragged out of preschools, are being treated in the worst, most despicable ways. That will be something, unfortunately, regardless of whether you're like me and you want a strong border, or whether you're more moderate on the issue, it's still — it's going to be —
BRZEZINSKI: Stain on our history.
SCARBOROUGH: — real blight on this time. And that's why I'm so grateful for Pope Leo and the Catholic Church stepping forward the way it have.
