MS NOW's Alex Wagner Hypes 'Destruction of Black & Brown Lives' by ICE

MS NOW via Snapstream

Appearing on Thursday's Deadline: White House, MS NOW political analyst Alex Wagner claimed that there has been a "normalization of the destruction of black and brown lives" by ICE, and complained that the media are not covering it enough.

Her comments came as fill-in host Jacob Soboroff devoted a segment to fretting over ICE increase its arrests of illegal aliens to record levels. The MS NOW host and anti-Trump author began:

It was never, ever about the worst of the worst. There's brand new reporting from The New York Times that shows just how far Donald Trump's campaign of mass deportation has strayed from team Trump's claims of their mass deportation campaign targeting people with criminal records. Here's what The New York Times says a surge in immigration arrests this summer has swept up thousands of people who had not previously been the focus of President Trump's mass deportation campaign. They included people married to U.S. citizens, people who had entered legally and were pursuing an asylum claim, and others with a temporary legal status that the administration pushed to revoke.

After disapprovingly noting findings that the proportion of those arrested who had been convicted of a violent crime was below four percent, he noted the case of Mexican national Victor Martinez Nieto being deported and taking his five-year-old son with him before bringing aboard Wagner and Memo Torres of the website L.A. Taco as guests.

After Torres complained that Americans have lost interest in ICE-related arrests and deaths because they have become a "daily" occurrence, Soboroff turned to Wagner and suggested that the media are no longer providing enough coverage:

I think Memo, Alex, is right. People are -- are -- they have a lot going on in their lives. And, Alex, you and I were together in Minneapolis during all of this. And I wonder, you know, I -- I've heard from people that are basically say this stuff is still going on. We're just not talking about it loud enough anymore. Do you get the same sense that the people on the ground who went through this, no matter the city that they've been in, are very conscious that this is still going on, and it's the rest of us that haven't been paying close enough attention?

Wagner hyperbolically responded:

Well, I think black and brown people in the country are very aware that this is going on. I mean, I think that there has been a normalization of the destruction of black and brown lives that implicates all of us, including the news media, including citizens of every color and stripe in this country, that we aren't out in the streets.

She then claimed that Renee Good and Alex Pretti were "murdered" by federal agents:

I mean, yes, I understand that Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were on videotape, and that was a meaningful difference in terms of those deaths going viral. But it's also, you know, it shouldn't just be white people being murdered over immigration that matter to the national dialogue.

After Wagner complained about Haitians having their temporary protected status revoked so they can be deported, Soboroff pivoted to asking Torres about the effects on children and used a leftist group to argue they had been "tortured" by ICE:

I just really quickly wanted to ask you about how these two little boys, Liam -- we've known for a while that the administration had no qualms whatsoever about detaining children. They separated deliberately, 5,500, tortured them, in the words of Physicians for Human Rights, during the first administration. But there is something about the fact that -- that there have been so many arrested by ICE in this term, that there are two little boys now named Liam who have gone viral because of the cruelty that's been directed towards them.

Transcript follows:

MS NOW's Deadline: White House

August 27, 2026

4:35 p.m. Eastern

JACOB SOBOROFF: It was never, ever about the worst of the worst. There's brand new reporting from The New York Times that shows just how far Donald Trump's campaign of mass deportation has strayed from team Trump's claims of their mass deportation campaign targeting people with criminal records. Here's what The New York Times says a surge in immigration arrests this summer has swept up thousands of people who had not previously been the focus of President Trump's mass deportation campaign. They included people married to U.S. citizens, people who had entered legally and were pursuing an asylum claim, and others with a temporary legal status that the administration pushed to revoke.

A majority of the immigrants arrested in July were people who were accused of violating civil immigration laws, but who had not been charged with or convicted of a crime, an analysis of newly released federal data shows. They share  -- the share, excuse me, with a past violent criminal conviction fell to less than four percent -- less than four percent. Shocker. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said that anyone in the country illegally was a target for enforcement.

And that's what they always say. There is no better illustration for how the Department of Homeland Security's targets have shifted than the news that five-year-old Liam Tadeo and his father, Victor Martinez Nieto, have been deported to Mexico. Footage of Liam crying and holding on to his father's hand as they were arrested went viral earlier this month. DHS focus has shifted so much that he is now the second little boy named Liam who has gone viral after being arrested by ICE after footage of Minnesotan Liam Conejo Ramos and his blue bunny hat in ICE custody shocked and horrified all of us.

I want to bring in L.A. Taco reporter covering ICE and immigration raids, Memo Torres. Alex (Wagner) is still with me. Memo, thank you so much for being here today. This is something that you have covered from the very get go after the very first raids here in L.A. I think people who have been following this story could tell that this is what was going down on the streets, but I think seeing it quantified is -- is pretty mind blowing actually.

(...)

I think Memo, Alex, is right. People are -- are -- they have a lot going on in their lives. And, Alex, you and I were together in Minneapolis during all of this. And I wonder, you know, I -- I've heard from people that are basically say this stuff is still going on. We're just not talking about it loud enough anymore. Do you get the same sense that the people on the ground who went through this, no matter the city that they've been in, are very conscious that this is still going on, and it's the rest of us that haven't been paying close enough attention?

ALEX WAGNER, MS NOW POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think black and brown people in the country are very aware that this is going on. I mean, I think that there has been a normalization of the destruction of black and brown lives that implicates all of us, including the news media, including citizens of every color and stripe in this country, that we aren't out in the streets. I mean, yes, I understand that Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were on videotape, and that was a meaningful difference in terms of those deaths going viral. But it's also, you know, it shouldn't just be white people being murdered over immigration that matter to the national dialog.

And, you know, I interviewed a Haitian nurse two weeks ago who had just lost temporary protected status. This is someone who has been legally in the country since she was five years old, who has a child who is an American who lives with her, and she is being told to go back to Haiti, a country that is more dangerous now than when she left it as a child. And this is a woman who's fully integrated into American society, who is, for all intents and purposes, an American who has been here legally contributing to our economy, contributing to the fabric of our democracy. And she's being told to get out and go home, and nobody's saying anything. This is someone who's interfacing in her day to day lives, life with American people.

And where are we on this? I mean, I understand that the tactics are more pernicious than they have been. They're going to cities and states that are less populated, where perhaps communities aren't as tightly knit, or the detentions aren't being seen in such public ways. They're using local law enforcement instead of ICE officers to detain these people. But that's not an excuse. Like, this is a -- this is a moral stain on our national conscience, and we're all implicated in it.

SOBOROFF: Here, here. And for Stephen Miller to say something like, "Well, Haitians -- Haiti is safe for Haitians, but not for Americans," is disgusting, frankly, on so many levels. But, as someone, too, who has reported from Haiti and seen what -- what the situation was like under the Biden administration when they were sending people back to danger or potential death.

Memo -- we got -- we got to run, but I just really quickly wanted to ask you about how these two little boys, Liam -- we've known for a while that the administration had no qualms whatsoever about detaining children. They separated deliberately, 5,500, tortured them, in the words of Physicians for Human Rights, during the first administration. But there is something about the fact that -- that there have been so many arrested by ICE in this term, that there are two little boys now named Liam who have gone viral because of the cruelty that's been directed towards them.