Tune into the left wing media on almost any given day and chances are that you'll get to see the bashing of ICE and their agents, whether from hosts or from guests, who are often encouraged by the host to go full steam ahead, usually by failing to challenge any accusation made against ICE. That was the case on Saturday's edition of Politics Nation on MS NOW, but there was also an added irony to what took place, involving the Epstein Files.
Host Al Sharpton -- who seems to very rarely ask a follow-up question that isn't scripted -- started his interview with Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-California), who is also a gubernatorial candidate in the state, by asking him about the current partial government shutdown, which of course centers around the funding of ICE, and it was exactly what you might expect.
SWALWELL: No one wants to pay for another public execution. ICE is running around our communities, Rev. They think they're invincible. The bodies are piling up. No single person has been fired after executing a nurse named (Alex) Pretti and a mom named (Renee) Good. No one's even been reprimanded. There's been no slap on the wrist, not even like a thumbs down on their socials. Maybe an ICE agent who was involved could lose their paycheck just for the day that this occurred. That hasn't happened...
Of course Sharpton did not pursue the "bodies are piling up" claim, or anything else. Sharpton knows something about making wildly false allegations!
And both men predictably left out that there is a civil rights investigation under way in the Pretti shooting, and two ICE agents were placed on leave last Friday, for possibly lying about the shooting of a Venezuelan national in Minneapolis in January.
Nobody would expect Rev. Sharpton to ask Swalwell about the old story of star high-school quarterback Jamiel Shaw, a black man killed in California in 2008 by an illegal immigrant and gang member. Some bodies are more worth mentioning than others.
Sharpton then played an exchange between Swalwell and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons during hearing earlier in the week, but asked no question about it. Instead he asked if Swalwell has confidence in Lyons, or "Is It ICE that needs to be purged." Guess which one he chose?
SWALWELL: ICE needs to go. And Rev, we just had the Super Bowl in the Bay Area. And again, as fans came together to celebrate to support local businesses, these guys were trying to intimidate, you know, our black and brown community. And they have told us they target people based on the color of their skin and the accents that they speak. And so until the roving patrols are gone, until the body cameras are worn, until the masks come off and the identification comes out and the qualified immunity is taken away, I'm not going to vote to pay for it...
Again, pertinent information ignored. In September of 2025, a 6-3 decision from The U.S. Supreme Court allowed ICE to continue their raids in Los Angeles, with Justice Kavanaugh adding, "apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a relevant factor."
Next Sharpton turned to last week's House Judiciary Committee hearing, which included heated back and forth between Attorney General Pam Bondi and Democrats on the committee, which included questions on the Epstein Files, and asked Swalwell about the testimony.
SWALWELL: You don't have to be a dad of a little girl to want to protect the little girls who were sexually abused by Donald Trump's friends. And I am a dad of a little girl, and so I'm going to continue to seek justice on this. And I watched those women victim survivors behind the Attorney General, and all they wanted to do was have somebody from the Department Of Justice talk to them, for somebody from the Department of Justice to show they care...
So, a journalist might have asked Swalwell if, as the father of a little girl, someone who wants to protect little girls from sexual abuse, does that only apply to his unproven accusations against Donald Trump's friends? What about the thousands of illegal aliens and gang members taken off the street by ICE all over the country, including child rapists and sex offenders. The irony is so stark, it should have been gnawing at Sharpton and and Swalwell as well.
