Subtitles (253)
0:01-Donald Trump is now trying
to distance himself
0:02from the Border Patrol commander
0:04who oversaw the violent
occupation in Minneapolis
0:07amid an intense
national backlash
0:09from both sides of the aisle.
0:10For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look."
0:13[ Cheers and applause ]
0:16When they first
got back into power,
0:18Trump and his cronies thought
they were all-powerful,
0:20that they had a mandate
to do whatever they wanted
0:22whenever they wanted,
specifically when
it came to immigration.
0:25-We are in the beginning stages
of carrying out
0:27the largest deportation campaign
in American history.
0:30-This is what America voted for
on November 5th.
0:35-Under President Trump's
leadership,
0:36we are looking to set a goal
of a minimum
0:41of 3,000 arrests for ICE
every day,
0:44and President Trump
is going to keep pushing
0:46to get that number up higher.
0:48-NBC News has learned
top Trump aide Stephen Miller
0:51held a meeting
screaming at ICE officials
0:53to arrest more
undocumented immigrants.
0:55-Alright.
First of all, that's fake news.
0:56Stephen Miller doesn't scream.
0:58He emits a haunting shriek
summoned from the depths
1:02We actually have a clip.
1:06-Trump spent the campaign
telling voters
1:08he would deport
violent criminals,
1:09but then he put his
creepy lab assistant in charge.
1:11And what Miller really wants
is much different.
1:14Early on in Trump's term,
he explicitly told ICE officials
1:17to stop focusing on criminals
and start raiding Home Depots.
1:21-The conservative "Washington
Examiner," a conservative paper,
1:24has this quote
out of a private meeting
1:26where Stephen Miller
is screaming at agents,
1:28"What do you mean
you're going after criminals?
1:30Why aren't you at Home Depot?
Why aren't you at 7-Eleven?"
1:33They want to pick up
everybody who is here illegally,
1:36which is not
what he campaigned on.
1:37-Yeah, no one wants
an ICE raid at a Home Depot.
1:40First of all, the experience
of going to a Home Depot
1:43is already bad enough
without having armies
1:45of out-of-shape uncles
roaming the aisles
1:47asking to see your papers.
1:49I assume.
I don't go to Home Depot.
1:51Only because I wouldn't be
any use inside a Home Depot.
1:54You think I know
the [bleep] difference
1:55between a washer and a gasket?
1:57The only thing
I know about gaskets
1:59is I'm gonna blow mine
if my super says again
2:01he doesn't have
the right washer.
2:03See, I live in an apartment
in New York City.
2:05You don't fix [bleep] yourself.
2:07You call the super,
who also doesn't fix it.
2:11One time, I had a sink that
was fully falling off the wall,
2:13and I called the super
to come look at it,
2:15and he was like, "Nah.
It's supposed to be like that.
2:17It's a farmhouse sink
or some [bleep]."
2:20And then I said, "Angelo!
2:21I'm gonna have to call
the Department of Buildings."
2:23Then he said, "Oh, yeah?
You gotta call the D.O.B.?
2:26Alright. Maybe I'm gonna
have to call my friends
at the D.O.K."
2:29And I said, "Angelo, I have
never heard of the D.O.K.,
2:32and I hope it's a real thing
2:34and not the setup to one
of your famous little jokes."
2:37To which Angelo said,
"Okay. Oh. The D.O.K.
2:41It's the Department of
Keep your [bleep] mouth shut."
2:48Still, I should never
have rented on Staten Island.
2:50Anyway, the point is,
voters didn't want raids
2:52at Home Depot or quotas
of 3,000 arrests per day.
2:55In fact, to meet
such an insane quota,
2:57ICE had to staff up quickly
2:59by lowering
its recruitment standards.
3:01-Immigration and
Customs Enforcement
3:02has placed new recruits
into training
3:04before being fully vetted
as part of the hiring surge
3:07to meet President Trump's
mass-deportation goals.
3:09As a result,
ICE officials later discovered
3:11that some recruits had criminal
backgrounds, failed drug tests,
3:15or they didn't meet physical
or academic standards.
3:18-Nearly half of recruits
failed the written exam,
3:22even with access
to notes and textbooks.
3:26-Recent reporting suggests
3:27these new, lower
hiring standards
3:29have resulted in ICE recruits
3:31who have barely
been able to read or write.
3:34-According to "The Atlantic,"
more than a third
3:36of new recruits are failing
basic fitness tests--
3:38push-ups, sit-ups,
even a short run--
3:40with senior ICE officials
using words like
3:42"pathetic" and "disaster"
to describe the process.
3:45-To pass, recruits must do
15 push-ups and 32 sit-ups
3:49and run 1.5 miles in 14 minutes.
3:53To put that in context,
that is basically
3:55the Presidential Fitness Test
for fifth graders.
3:58-So they have criminal records,
4:00they failed drug tests,
failed open-book tests,
4:02they can't read,
they can't write,
4:04but they're also weaker
than a fifth grader,
4:07which would be
a way worse TV show.
4:10"Did you watch last night?
It was so sad.
4:12That old dude
fell off the monkey bars,
4:14and then a bunch
of fifth graders
4:15just started wailing on him."
4:17Now, I can't believe
I'm saying this,
4:19but it turns out unleashing
a lawless paramilitary force
4:21of masked, illiterate,
out-of-shape goons
4:23to terrorize American cities
isn't exactly
4:26the most popular thing
in the world.
4:28-ICE, DHS, Kristi Noem
have been a political disaster.
4:32Because just take a look here.
4:34I mean, ICE's net approval
rating during Trump's terms.
4:36You go back to term number one.
4:38Look. It was pretty even
at zero points.
4:40You go to June 2025, right?
4:42That was when all that stuff
was going on in Los Angeles.
4:45They dropped down. Look at this.
4:46Minus-17 points.
Way in the basement.
4:49But then after Minneapolis,
it's even lower!
4:52Minus-27 points on
the net approval rating of ICE.
4:57-It's also very funny that
the best net approval rating
5:00they've ever had is zero.
5:02That's their high water mark.
5:04Do you know
how embarrassing that is?
5:06That would be like if NBC
called me all excited
5:08and said,
"Seth, congratulations.
5:09Your ratings last night
were zero."
5:12And I said,
"Is that supposed to be good?"
5:14And they said, "Well, it means
nobody watched your show,
5:16which also means
nobody turned it off."
5:20So when they first took office
a year ago,
5:22Trump and his yes men
were all bravado.
5:24Now they're seeing
the bad polling and
the national outrage,
5:27and suddenly
they're changing their tune.
5:29-I don't understand why
it is so hard for those of us
5:32in public service to say
from time to time,
5:35"You know what?
I got it wrong."
5:50-I sense that
Bovino and company
5:53were just scooping up
some people
5:54that I don't think
the President was for.
5:56-What is their argument here?
5:57That Trump was just
watching all of this unfold
5:59on the news saying,
"Aw, this isn't what I wanted.
6:03I wish I had the guts
to tell Bovino to stop,
6:06but he's got such a cool coat,
6:07and mine looks like
it's full of bricks!"
6:11If Trump was against this,
6:12then maybe he should
have said something,
6:14you know, between naps.
6:15I can't believe
they're actually willing to say
6:17with a straight face
that the President's team
6:19was doing stuff
the President didn't know about.
6:21That's the same thing
they said about Biden,
6:24except they, of course,
meant it as a bad thing.
6:27-I don't think President Biden
is actually running the country.
6:29I think there's
a small group of advisers.
6:31Many of them
are very progressive leftists
6:34who are trying to push
their various agendas.
6:36-No, I don't think
Joe Biden is in charge.
6:38-We know he wasn't in charge.
6:40-We had a guy who didn't know
where the hell he was.
6:44He just wanted to go to sleep.
6:47Just-- This is what we had.
6:49-"He didn't know
where the hell he was
6:51or what his aides were doing.
6:52He had these guys in Minnesota
6:54running around
causing chaos and destruction,
6:57and they were doing things
he wasn't in favor of
6:59because he had no idea.
7:00All he wanted to do was sleep.
7:02And I realized
I'm talking about myself.
7:05It's a classic meta joke.
7:08pointing out the irony
of my remarks
7:10by putting my accusations
against others in my own voice
7:14and revealing
what a hypocrite I am.
7:16We love when he does that.
We love it. Even I love it."
7:20But, of course, on cue,
Trump is now trying
7:23to distance himself
from the people he hired
7:25and put in charge of Minnesota.
7:27-Sources tell NBC News
the President
7:29is reshuffling his operation
in the state as a result.
7:32Border Patrol Commander
Gregory Bovino
7:34is expected
to leave Minneapolis.
7:36Now he will reportedly lose
his Commander title.
7:49-The department
will also reduce the number
7:51of DHS officers and agents
in the state.
7:55-I don't think
it's a pullback.
7:56It's a little bit of a change.
7:58Everybody in this room
that has a business,
7:59you know,
you make little changes.
8:01You know, Bovino is very good,
8:02but he's a pretty "out there"
kind of a guy.
8:05-You put him in charge!
8:08Now you're talking about him
the way
8:09my aunt talks about her shaman.
8:11"He's a pretty 'out there' guy.
8:13He believes all physical
ailments can be cured
8:15through a combination
of Epsom salt and aura healing."
8:18"Does he even have a degree?"
8:19"Almost.
He went to medical school,
8:21but he failed
the open-book tests.
8:24But he's almost as strong
as a fifth grader!"
8:27Trump did an interview and
admitted what's really going on.
8:29The Trump administration is
pulling back because they lost.
8:33-Minnesota's in the-- in the
news a lot, but they don't--
8:36What they don't say is
that Minnesota has low numbers
8:39because of the fact that we took
8:41thousands of hardened criminals
out of Minnesota,
8:43so they had good crime numbers,
believe it or not.
8:46And that's all working out.
8:47You know,
we have Tom Homan there now.
8:49We put him in there. He's great.
8:51And they met with the governor,
the mayor, everybody else.
8:53And we're going to
de-escalate a little bit.
8:55-He tried to sneak it in there
at the very end,
8:57after a stream of [bleep]
the way you tell your spouse
9:00you had an affair
with her best friend.
9:02"So I made reservations
at your favorite restaurant,
9:04I got you
a really expensive ring,
9:05I bought you
these beautiful flowers,
9:09so, uh, I think everything's
going great with us!"
9:11We can all see what happened
with our own eyes.
9:13ICE and Border Patrol agents
didn't just take out
9:15hardened criminals,
as Trump claims.
9:17They detained
children and citizens
9:19and tear-gassed
families and schools
9:21and turned peaceful
neighborhoods into war zones,
9:23killed two people,
Renee Good and Alex Pretti,
9:25who were simply standing up
for their communities,
9:28exercising their
constitutional rights.
9:30But Minnesota's
resilience and solidarity
9:32have shown us the way.
9:34The American people are
overwhelmingly on their side,
9:36and now Trump is trying
to distance himself
9:38from the chaos he created.
9:39And that's how you know
he's losing.
9:41He's suddenly claiming
he didn't want any of this.
9:43-He just wanted
to go to sleep.
9:45-This has been "A Closer Look."
9:47[ Cheers and applause ]
