CNN pundits, local officials attack Dr. Phil's Chicago ICE raid ride-along as a 'mockery,' 'reality show'

CNN pundits and guests were critical of Dr. Phil joining a raid with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) team, calling it a "mockery" that turned arrests into a "reality show."

Phil McGraw, known as "Dr. Phil," joined border czar Tom Homan and a team of agents on Sunday as they took various illegal immigrants into custody in Chicago. As part of his show on Merit TV, Dr. Phil filmed a variety of arrests and even interviewed a convicted sex offender and internet predator from Thailand as he was being taken into custody.

On Monday, Illinois and Chicago officials as well as CNN personalities called out the daytime talk show host for what they considered to be an "inappropriate" and "strange" event.

Dr. Phil filmed arrests made by ICE and border czar Tom Homan during a Chicago operation Sunday night. (Merit TV/screengrab)

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"I think it’s ridiculous," Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told CNN's Jim Acosta. "It’s making a mockery of what is supposed to be a focused…if it’s law enforcement, if it’s focusing on criminals, you don’t invite folks like that who have no law enforcement background to be embedded within. I think it’s inappropriate. I think it’s done for the show, and I think it’s done to upset the community and to score political points with those who want to divide."

Acosta followed up by asking, "And it sounds like he’s getting access, whereas we’re not seeing the rest of the media getting access. What does that tell you? Isn‘t that a little strange?"

Raoul agreed, saying, "You have somebody that’s favorable to the message that you want to send. It’s adverse to our First Amendment for sure, but it’s also adverse to appropriate law enforcement practices."

CNN commentator David Axelrod also attacked Dr. Phil in an X post Monday.

"What does it tell you that the delegation that arrived in Chicago yesterday to commence the deportation operation included Dr. Phil?!? Was he there to minister to the ICE agents? The arrested immigrants? Or was he there to turn this into Must See TV?" Axelrod wrote.

One of the harsher comments came from Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez on "CNN News Central." In addition to calling out President Donald Trump as the "dictator-in-chief," Sigcho-Lopez attacked Dr. Phil, Homan and the administration for terrorizing families.

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"This week has felt like an eternity given the weight of the federal government coming not to help Chicagoans feel safer but to create panic and chaos…We‘re seeing a Secret Service coming to target the schools," Sigcho-Lopez said. "The panic that is bringing the immigration czar, so-called, with Dr. Phil, even, creating this as some sort of reality show, playing with the real fear of students, children, families who are terrified by the misinformation, by the threats of mass deportation."

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul spoke to CNN's Jim Acosta about Dr. Phil filming an ICE operation. (CNN screenshot)

On his show, Dr. Phil emphasized that agents were not barging into schools to arrest illegal immigrant students.

"This truly is a targeted ICE mission because they're not sweeping neighborhoods like people are trying to imply," Dr. Phil said. "I know that because I've been involved heading into this. They've identified 270 high-value targets, and what I mean by that is that these are known criminals and terrorists."

Fox News' Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.

Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and on Twitter: @lmkornick.