By Molly Claire Goddard
2:00pm PDT, Jun 21, 2025
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Many left-leaning journalists are speaking out against
Donald Trump's version of America.
On the Thursday, June 19, broadcast of MSNBC's
All In with Chris Hayes,
Chris Hayes slammed the president along with his administration for their strict crackdown on immigration that's instilled immense fear into residents of the United States.
Keep reading to hear what the host said about Trump scaring citizens through ICE practices…MORE:
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Amid increased actions by federal law enforcement under the instruction of Donald Trump, Chris Hayes highlighted how the administration's use of ICE against residents has restricted people's freedom of movement, calling it an "assault on the idea of America itself."
"One of the cherished parts of being an American is freedom of movement. When you walk around — and this obviously applies more to certain folks than others — but you usually don't have to stop at internal checkpoints or show your papers to police," he said. "I've traveled in other countries where, say, your bus stops and heavily armed federal agents climb on board to check everyone's papers. It doesn't feel good. It feels like a quintessential fixture of a country that's not fully free, and it's happening more and more and more in Trump's America."
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Chris Hayes then shared a video of a situation in Long Island, New York: In the footage, ICE agents pull over a 23-year-old man and demand to see his ID without explanation. When the individual asserts his constitutional rights, the officers imply they will physically assault him if he doesn't comply.
"So those agents pulled that 23-year-old from the van. They handcuffed him, later released him after confirming, woopsies, he's an American. No apologies. And he's not alone," the television personality said.
Hayes then referred to American citizen Brian Gavidia, who was racially profiled by agents in Los Angeles who demanded to see his ID.
"Again, you're working, you're outside, armed mass federal agents come up and say, 'Show me your papers,' and push you up against the fence," Hayes said. "He was not arrested, but he told the Los Angeles Times those agents took his Real ID and never returned it."
"These are the cruel absurdities people are now facing every day, like this car full of members of an Arizona based Native American tribe who were followed for miles and then pulled over by border patrol last week," he continued.
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Chris Hayes condemned Donald Trump and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller for creating chaos in America and turning it into a military state.
"This is the America that Donald Trump and Stephen Miller want. That's what they're trying to create. It's what we saw unfold at Dodger Stadium [in Los Angeles] earlier today and at Home Depot in Hollywood, just as we saw it on the other side of L.A. over the weekend at a flea market that was effectively shut down by ice and border patrol agents [who were] armed … wearing masks [and] full military body armor," he said. "They look like they're going to go kill Osama bin Laden, agents who went up to bystanders at a flea market and asked them, 'Where are you from? Got to show your papers.'"
"Americans are being forced to accept mass paramilitary forces stopping people anytime, anywhere, in any circumstance, demanding to know where people are from. The way Trump sold this on the campaign was by saying, 'We're going to go at these other people that you hate, right? There's this other group and they're bad and they're hurting our country and I'm going to protect you, American citizens,'" he continued. "We're seeing every day, there is no way to do this, what they want to do — mass deportation — that is not massively disruptive to the liberties of every American. In fact, it's an assault on the idea of America itself."
