Since last year, MS NOW host Joe Scarborough and other Morning Joe regulars have repeatedly claimed that President Donald Trump promised to "only" deport "the worst of the worst" illegal aliens.
MS NOW's Morning Joe
December 4, 2025
7:53 a.m. Eastern
JOE SCARBOROUGH: And what a lie -- what a total lie to say we're only going after the worst of the worst.
(...)
January 14, 2026
6:34 a.m.
WILLIE GEIST: "The idea that they're just going after the worst of the worst, as was promised during the campaign, is just not true."
(...)
January 29, 2026
6:12 a.m.
GEIST: They're not going after the worst of the worst, as promised.
(...)
February 24, 2026
7:24 a.m.
CLAIRE McCASKILL, MS NOW CONTRIBUTOR: They said only the worst of the worst is what they were going to go after.
(...)
May 4, 2026
9:25 a.m.
JONATHAN LEMIRE: And it wasn't just what was promised, when Trump said during the campaign, "Oh, just the worst of the worst."
(...)
May 19, 2026
7:27 a.m.
SCARBOROUGH: The great lie is that they're only going after the worst of the worst. That is a lie.
(...)
May 29, 2026
7:05 a.m.
SCARBOROUGH: ...constant lies being told by administration officials who were saying, "Oh, we're only getting the worst of the worst." No, they aren't."
(...)
May 29, 2026
7:13 a.m.
LEMIRE: We have gone over repeatedly about President Trump's original promise, that it would just be the worst of the worst. And that's clearly not the case.
(...)
June 2, 2026
7:10 a.m.
LEMIRE: The Trump administration came to office saying we're going to detain and deport just the worst of the worst. Is that who you found in that hall?
CONGRESSMAN ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): Total lie.
(...)
July 15, 2026
7:12 a.m.
LEMIRE: His original promise was that these deportation program was going to focus on the worst of the worst. Not only has that not happened...
(...)
August 14, 2026
6:39 a.m.
SCARBOROUGH: Is there any starker example -- any starker illustration, Sam, of how much this administration has lied to America about going after the worst of the worst -- only the worst of the worst.
(...)
August 20, 2026
6:03 a.m.
SCARBOROUGH: ...heinous, hateful immigration policies that went well beyond what he promised. The worst of the worst? Not even close. We're going after people who are fighting our wars. We're going after people who are building our communities.
(...)
August 27, 2026
7:43 a.m.
SCARBOROUGH: And we say this every time one of these stories comes up. Show us that this is the worst of the worst. They can't. The promise was we were getting rapists and murderers out of the country -- not people in communities often for decades working jobs with children being taken off the streets by ICE...
(...)
August 28, 2026
7:07 a.m.
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): Everybody who voted for Donald Trump believed he was going after the worst of the worst. That's what he promised. That was a flat-out lie.
(...)
September 17, 2026
6:10 a.m.
SCARBOROUGH: Every promise made they've lied about -- even the promise about only going after the worst of the worst. We now, thanks to J.D.'s administration, have Americans being gunned down in the street, shot execution-style -- it certainly looked like Alex Pretti got shot execution-style. You had young guys that were going to enlist in the Marines -- American citizens being stopped, dragged out of their cars, kicked, beaten. The worst of the worst? They just lie when telling the truth would be easier for them. They just keep lying.
(...)
September 21, 2026
7:15 a.m.
LEMIRE: This is not what Trump voters -- Americans wanted two years ago, Katty, when Trump promised we'll get out the worst of the worst. The ICE agents and the deportation push has gone far beyond that.
. steve malzberg
. steve malzberg
