In a heated exchange, Bill Maher confronted Phil McGraw — aka Dr. Phil — about his involvement in Trump-era ICE raids.
The “Real Time” host was joined on Friday by the former TV therapist and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. The trio touched on a range of topics, including President Donald Trump’s plans to run for re-election — an act that’s illegal — and people using AI for therapy.
But things got tense when Maher turned the conversation toward McGraw’s recent actions.
“Why are you going on these ICE raids?” he asked. “I don’t understand that.”
Maher nodded to McGraw’s past in working to repair broken families in voicing his confusion.
“You’re a guy who we know for so many years who has been working to put families together. To bring families who are apart and heal them. And now you’re going on raids with people who are literally separating families,” he said.
McGraw immediately responded with, “Now that’s bullshit.”
Maher pressed further, asking if the Trump administration wasn’t “separating families.”
To which McGraw responded, “Look, if you arrest somebody that’s a citizen, that has committed a crime or is DUI’d with a child in the backseat, do you think they don’t separate that family right then, right there? Of course they do.”
“But that’s not what they’re doing,” Maher responded bluntly.
According to reports, McGraw was seen participating in an ICE raid in Chicago earlier this year.
As the exchange continued, McGraw turned to Maher’s opening monologue — where Maher mentioned “masked ICE agents” — and defended the coverings worn by these officials. McGraw stated that legislators “passed laws about immigration” and “funded those laws to be executed,” and now ICE agents are being doxed as a result.
“They’re putting their names, their pictures, their addresses of their families on the internet, they’re putting them on telephone poles,” he said. “So, of course, they’re wearing masks so they don’t get outed, so people can do violence against their families. The negative actions against ICE agents are up 1,000% in the last several months.”
He also pointed to privileged access to “files” that, he claimed, justified his participation in the raids.
“They’ve got a rap sheet, 12, 14 different cases long of child predators that they’re taking off the street,” he said. “These are the worst first that they’re taking off the streets. Who would want them back in their communities?”
Maher agreed that he wouldn’t want “violent criminals or gangs” roaming free, but claimed that the act “pivoted” when ICE agents started going to places like Home Depot, abducting civilians “looking for an honest day’s work.”