Dr. Phil Completely Shuts Down Bill Maher’s ICE Raid Criticism [WATCH]

Television host Dr. Phil McGraw clashed with “Real Time” host Bill Maher during a recent interview after Maher questioned his participation in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Maher opened the exchange by challenging McGraw’s involvement in the enforcement actions.

“Why are you going on these ICE raids?” Maher asked.

“I don’t understand that. You’re a guy who we know for so many years who has been working to put families together. To bring families who are apart and heal them. And now you’re going on raids with people who are literally separating families.”

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McGraw pushed back strongly on the accusation.

“Well, now that’s bulls***,” he responded.

He argued that law enforcement regularly separates families when individuals commit crimes.

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“Look, if you arrest somebody that’s a citizen, that has committed a crime or is DUI’d with a child in the backseat, do you think they don’t separate that family right then, right there? Of course they do!” McGraw said.

Maher countered, “But that’s not what’s going on,” maintaining his position against the raids.

McGraw continued to draw comparisons to other criminal arrests, noting that in cases such as bank robbery or manslaughter caused by drunk driving, family separation is a direct consequence of criminal behavior.

The exchange came amid broader scrutiny of U.S. immigration enforcement and policies regarding family separations.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General report from March 2025 found that over 233,000 unaccompanied children were released from federal custody into the United States during the Biden-Harris administration and were not subsequently tracked by ICE.

According to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the border “created a humanitarian crisis that left over 233,000 unaccompanied alien children (UACs) without proper legal oversight and vulnerable to exploitation.”

The report stated that 31,000 children were released to sponsor addresses that were blank, undeliverable, or incomplete, and more than 43,000 failed to appear for court hearings, making them untraceable to federal authorities.

The interview also turned to the issue of ICE agents wearing masks during enforcement actions.

Maher criticized the practice, but McGraw defended it. “[Legislators are] putting their [ICE agents’] names, their pictures, their addresses of their families on the internet, they’re putting them on telephone poles,” McGraw explained.

“So, of course, they’re wearing masks so they don’t get outed, so people can do violence against their families.”

NEW: Bill Maher confronts Dr. Phil over joining ICE raids — and Dr. Phil fires back, calling bullsh*t right to his face.

Dr. Phil doesn’t just curse for anything.

MAHER: “Why are you going on these ICE raids? I don’t understand that. You’re a guy who we know for so many years… pic.twitter.com/QAxAZ9waAt

— The Vigilant Fox (@VigilantFox) August 9, 2025

Data from DHS indicated that assaults against ICE agents increased by 830 percent between January and July 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, underscoring concerns over agent safety.

The back-and-forth between McGraw and Maher reflects an ongoing divide over immigration enforcement and the portrayal of ICE operations.

The discussion also highlighted the contrast between immigration policy under the current administration and past enforcement efforts.

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