‘Dr. Phil’ embedded with immigration authorities during ICE action in Chicago

Video posted by the former daytime talk-show host Phil McGraw showed him on a ride-along with immigration agents in Chicago on Sunday as authorities stepped up enforcement operations across the United States.

McGraw, a former psychologist who rose to fame alongside Oprah Winfrey and hosted “Dr. Phil” for more than two decades, said he had “embedded” with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to show what he described as the agency’s targeted efforts to apprehend “known criminals and terrorists.”

Speaking to McGraw in a segment broadcast on the network that the former talk-show host founded one year ago — Merit Street Media — Trump administration border czar Thomas Homan told viewers to “forget the false narrative” that immigration authorities are carrying out neighborhood sweeps that target “people that are a different color than us.”

“Look at what we actually do,” he said.

The enforcement actions come after President Donald Trump promised to carry out what he described as the largest mass deportation plan in U.S. history — and as immigration advocates warn people about their right to due process during encounters with authorities, regardless of their immigration status.

On Monday, a group of Quaker congregations sued the Department of Homeland Security over the reversal of a decades-old policy last week that prevented immigration agents from conducting raids in “sensitive locations” — including houses of worship and schools — without prior approval.

ICE agents took nearly 1,200 people into custody Sunday, the agency said, marking the single largest number of arrests made in a single day since Trump took office. Nearly half of those detained don’t have criminal records, according to a senior Trump administration official.

In a video posted on McGraw’s X profile, the former talk show host can be seen questioning a man who appears to be handcuffed and standing on a street next to Homan.

At one point, the man can be heard asking for a lawyer. At another point, when McGraw asks the man if he’d previously been deported, the man asks: “Are you Dr. Phil?”

“How do you know me?” McGraw responds.

“I’ve seen you on ‘Dr. Phil,’” he said. 

In the video, Homan describes the man as undocumented and says he has been convicted of sex crimes with children. When McGraw asks the man if he committed the alleged crimes, the man says, “not really.”

A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

McGraw, who ended his daytime show in 2023, spoke at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in October and called the then-candidate “tough as an old army boot.” In an interview afterward, McGraw said the appearance was not an endorsement.

For decades before he entered the political arena, Trump watched — and accelerated — the boom of the reality TV era.

Chasing celebrity, Trump made himself a constant presence in New York’s tabloid newspapers, appeared as a guest with the biggest interviewers of the last 40 or so years — from Phil Donahue to Howard Stern — and eventually launched “The Apprentice.” On that show, Trump judged candidates for a job, telling losers “You’re fired!”

Maury Povich, host of the “Trash TV” talk show “Maury,” once said that Trump would call him to offer suggestions for the program. The late Jerry Springer lamented in 2019 that Trump “took my show and brought it to the White House.”

During his 2024 campaign, Trump effectively used modern formats — including podcasts and YouTube programs — that try to narrow the distance between audiences and the hosts and guests.