Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Sunday's The Weekend, MS NOW gave an unchallenged forum to a North Carolina Democrat to complain about the arrests of illegal aliens in her state, calling it both "kidnapping" and "un-American."
After showing a clip of a local woman explaining why she is sympathetic to immigrants with children who might be deported, co-host Eugene Daniels turned to his guest, Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, and described residents as feeling "under siege" as he posed:
How is the community, like, stepping up and coming together? Because it does feel when I talk to folks when, you know, they say CBP or ICE or the National Guard comes to their communities, it feels like they're under siege. But the community does have ways to stand up together, and this mother is one of -- one of the perfect examples of how.
Allam soon accused federal agents of "kidnapping" immigrants:
These are -- the folks that they're picking up and kidnapping -- they are my neighbors -- they're the people I see at the grocery store when I go to shopping centers just like the one that we recorded that incident at that -- them being picked up at. So I knew I couldn't sit idly by when we saw what was happening in Chicago -- we saw that they had already been coming to North Carolina...
Co-host Jackie Alemany soon followed up: "Commissioner, I'm wondering, if you had the opportunity to sit down with Trump or anyone at a high level in this administration involved with this deportation mandate, what would your message to them be?"
The North Carolina Democrat then called it "un-American" to arrest illegal aliens:
My message to them would be that this is un-American. What we're seeing right now, these mass actions by masked, heavily armed CBP and ICE agents coming into our backyards, to our churches, to our shopping centers, as if they're in a warzone. This is un-American, you know, and as a naturalized citizen, I'm like proud to be an American, but right now it's terrifying.
Fill-in co-host Laura Barron Lopez followed up by cuing up Allam to predict negative future consequences of the immigration arrests:
I was talking to the Mecklenburg County sheriff, Gary McFadden, earlier this week, and he talked about the long-term impact on the community in North Carolina, saying it damaged the economy -- it damaged, you know, construction sites, restaurants, but also, he said, the "heart and soul of the people" there in North Carolina. What kind of long-term impacts are these immigration enforcement efforts by the administration going to have on your community?
Transcript follows:
MS NOW's The Weekend
November 23, 2025
8:19 a.m. Eastern
EUGENE DANIELS: How is the community, like, stepping up and coming together? Because it does feel when I talk to folks when, you know, they say CBP or ICE or the National Guard comes to their communities, it feels like they're under siege. But the community does have ways to stand up together, and this mother is one of -- one of the perfect examples of how.
NIDA ALLAM (D-DURHAM COUNTY COMMISSIONER): Yeah, so, as the county commissioner, you know, here in Durham, I represent over 340,000 people, and I ran on the platform that I was going to make sure that Durham was a safe and welcoming place for all residents of Durham. And, you know, as a local elected official, I'm often the elected official that folks see every day.
These are -- the folks that they're picking up and kidnapping -- they are my neighbors -- they're the people I see at the grocery store when I go to shopping centers just like the one that we recorded that incident at that -- them being picked up at. So I knew I couldn't sit idly by when we saw what was happening in Chicago -- we saw that they had already been coming to North Carolina, which is why I have been working and partnering with immigrant justice organizations like Siembra North Carolina, Muslim Women For, to lead "know your rights" workshops for people to know what their rights are as well as coordinating, you know, other elected officials to be ready for this rapid response.
And that's what you saw was that as soon as we got notification that there was CBP and ICE in Durham, I hopped in my car and I rushed over because these are more than just my constituents. They're my neighbors, my friends, my family -- and I feel that woman's pain -- that mother's pain because I also am a mother of a three-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old. And ICE and CBP here in Durham showed up to a daycare and was staking out a daycare's parking lot where the daycare had to go into lockdown and tell the families to not come because they didn't want to risk any parent being picked up while trying to come to get their child.
JACKIE ALEMANY: Commissioner, I'm wondering, if you had the opportunity to sit down with Trump or anyone at a high level in this administration involved with this deportation mandate, what would your message to them be?
ALLAM: My message to them would be that this is un-American. What we're seeing right now, these mass actions by masked, heavily armed CBP and ICE agents coming into our backyards, to our churches, to our shopping centers, as if they're in a warzone. This is un-American, you know, and as a naturalized citizen, I'm like proud to be an American, but right now it's terrifying.
It's terrifying for me as a county commissioner to go to my residents who are scared, and I can't look them in the face and tell them everything is going to be okay, but I can tell them that I will fight for them because right now all of us elected officials -- not just Republicans but everyone needs to be doing better because right now is not the time for strongly worded letters and tweets. It is time for us to stand up and use every lever of power that we have to advocate for our neighbors. And if that means putting our bodies on the line, then we have to do that because I will not stand by while residents are living in fear.
LAURA BARRON LOPEZ: Commissioner, I was talking to the Mecklenburg County sheriff, Gary McFadden, earlier this week, and he talked about the long-term impact on the community in North Carolina, saying it damaged the economy -- it damaged, you know, construction sites, restaurants, but also, he said, the "heart and soul of the people" there in North Carolina. What kind of long-term impacts are these immigration enforcement efforts by the administration going to have on your community?
