Amid several attempts across the nation by left-wing extremists to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, CBS News Sunday Morning appeared to blame the actions of ICE for the attacks. CBS alluded to ICE being the source of the violence, twisted the story of a young illegal immigrant, and talked for a former ICE attorney all to allude to a false fact that ICE deserved the attempts to kill their agents. The reporter behind the segment even suggested it was a “David versus Goliath” fight.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, is now effectively the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in the nation. Some have cheered its growth. Others are wondering, when does more become too much?” chided host Jane Pauley as she introduced the segment which was delivered by correspondent Lee Cowan.
Though not explicitly calling it such, Cowan’s report essentially consisted of listing out the purported transgressions that caused ICE agents to deserve the attempts on their lives, even blaming them for the violence brought against them, and accusing them of racism:
COWAN: Thirteen members of his congregation were arrested that day. The Trump Administration no longer considers schools, and hospitals and churches "protected sensitive locations" anymore. So, the following Sunday, Father Jamie told the faithful to stay away.
(…)
COWAN: In Los Angeles, that fear turned to anger, and anger into violence [shows law enforcement shooting off tear gas].
The raids were challenged in court for being indiscriminate and based on skin color, but ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the raids could continue. Since then, in city after city, the administration has been testing the court`s limits, especially in Chicago.
GOV. JB PRITZKER (D-IL): ICE is running around the Loop harassing people for not being white. Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States. Now, ICE is making it commonplace.
COWAN: Late Saturday, the Trump administration federalized 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, a move Pritzker insists is unnecessary.
(…)
COWAN: In fact, this past week, while addressing top military brass, he suggested American cities could serve as "training grounds" for U.S. combat troops.
Cowan attempted to pull at peoples’ heart strings by speaking to a woman who claimed her “son”/”partner” was supposedly unjustly arrested by ICE despite entering the country illegally via the Biden border app. Only later in the story did Cowan note that the illegal immigrant in question had his asylum claimed denied (Click “expand”):
COWAN: Last May, Contreras did what he was required to do. He showed up for his court hearing in New York.
So, on that day, you assumed this was just going to be another routine hearing in the process?
RAIZA CONTRERAS (via translator): Yes, I didn`t think anything bad would happen. He wanted to enter legally; he didn`t want to get in trouble. He did it the right way.
COWAN: As they left the courtroom, however, his mother, Raiza, says federal agents followed them into the elevator.
CONTRERAS: Like, five people or something came at me and grabbed me, pushed me to the floor. My son screamed, and they grabbed him, too, and put handcuffs on him.
COWAN: Just to be clear, Dylan didn`t have any criminal record at all.
CONTRERAS: Not at all, not at all. Those who know him, know.
COWAN: His case for asylum was denied last month. Pending an appeal, Contreras will be deported, leaving his mother and his two young siblings behind.
How are you doing?
CONTRERAS: Devastated, devastated, because I`ve always been with my children, and he`s been my partner. He`s always been more than a son, a friend, everything.
COWAN: The most recent ICE data, though, shows that those with no criminal record, like Contreras, now make up the bulk of those being arrested and detained.
Amid his listing of ICE’s recent actions worth of contempt, Cowan highlighted the attacks as seemingly the natural response. “But as those operations increased, so have assaults on federal agents. A sniper attack on an ICE facility in Dallas; an ambush in Alvarado, Texas; a violent scuffle in San Francisco,” he added.
As evidence that ICE knew they were bad guys in this story, Cowan spoke with a former lawyer for the agency, Adam Boyd. “[S]ome within ICE itself wondering if they`re doing the right thing,” Cowan declared.
“We`re lumping people with no criminal history who have been here for a very long time with the ‘worst of the worst,’” whined Boyd. “This doesn`t feel like protecting the homeland anymore. It feels like we`re just hitting numbers and goals.”
Cowan touted that Boyd was “now working for a firm in Philadelphia defending those arrested by ICE, and that`s no small task.” Lamenting that, “After passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE is now the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in the federal government.”
As he was concluding his report by talking with a pastor who had a lot of illegal immigrants in his congregation, Cowan remarked: “Does it feel a little like David versus Goliath, though?” To which the pastor noted “Yeah, but, you know, David won that one.”
David killed Goliath with a shot to the head.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS News Sunday Morning
October 5, 2025
9:18:08 a.m. EasternJANE PAULEY: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, is now effectively the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in the nation. Some have cheered its growth. Others are wondering, when does more become too much? Lee Cowan is on the front lines.
[Cuts to video]
FATHER JAIME EDWARDS ACTON: Buenos dias a todos. Buenos dias. Good morning to everybody.
LEE COWAN: It`s 11:00 A.M. on a Sunday in the heart of Hollywood, and the service at St. Stephen`s Episcopal Church is just getting underway.
EDWARDS ACTON: En el nombre de Dios, el Padre, el Hijo y el Espiritu Santo, amen.
COWAN: It was worship via the web. The church itself was empty, just like during the pandemic, when parishioners feared catching COVID. Today it was empty because they fear being caught themselves.
MAN #1: It`s definitely gotten a lot more tense out here.
LEE COWAN: On June 6th, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on Ambiance Apparel, a clothing wholesaler in L.A.`s Fashion District.
MAN #2: What crime did they make? What crime did they commit? Nothing.
COWAN: The pastor of St. Stephen`s, Father Jaime Edwards Acton, whose congregation is about 80 percent Hispanic, got a frantic call.
EDWARDS ACTON: She said, "They got them." At first, I had no idea what she was talking about because I was not thinking about it, right? Even with all the threats and the, you know, bravado and stuff, I was not thinking that it would happen directly to us.
LEE COWAN: Thirteen members of his congregation were arrested that day. The Trump Administration no longer considers schools, and hospitals and churches "protected sensitive locations" anymore. So, the following Sunday, Father Jamie told the faithful to stay away.
I imagine just making that decision to close the church is not one that you made lightly.
EDWARDS ACTON: No, not at all, but I was trying to balance, could we do church in person knowing that a good portion of our community was too afraid to leave their homes? It wasn`t even people that were undocumented. I have longtime parishioners that I know for sure are citizens and have been for a while and that were afraid to leave. They were afraid to leave their homes.
CROWD: No justice, no peace --
COWAN: In Los Angeles, that fear turned to anger, and anger into violence [shows law enforcement shooting off tear gas].
The raids were challenged in court for being indiscriminate and based on skin color, but ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the raids could continue. Since then, in city after city, the administration has been testing the court`s limits, especially in Chicago.
GOV. JB PRITZKER (D-IL): ICE is running around the Loop harassing people for not being white. Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States. Now, ICE is making it commonplace.
COWAN: Late Saturday, the Trump administration federalized 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, a move Pritzker insists is unnecessary.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has long defended the ICE raids as only going after the "worst of the worst."
SECY. KRISTI NOEM (DHS): Nobody is getting swept up. We`re running targeted enforcement operations across the country.
COWAN: But as those operations increased, so have assaults on federal agents.
MAN #3: A gunman opened fire on an ICE facility.
COWAN: A sniper attack on an ICE facility in Dallas; an ambush in Alvarado, Texas; a violent scuffle in San Francisco.
And then there is Portland.
PROTESTOR 1: Who’s streets?
CROWD: Our streets?
COWAN: Protests around the ICE headquarters there have sparked particular ire from President Donald Trump.
KAROLINE LEAVITT (White House Press Secretary): The President has directed Secretary Hegseth to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland and any ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa and other left-wing domestic terrorists.
COWAN: In fact, this past week, while addressing top military brass, he suggested American cities could serve as "training grounds" for U.S. combat troops.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP (President of the United States): It seems that the ones that are run by the radical left Democrats, what they`ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they`re very unsafe places. And we`re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room.
COWAN: Between the President`s desires and deployments, however, often the courts. Late Saturday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the National Guard from going to Portland. It`s those kinds of decisions that leave some within ICE itself wondering if they`re doing the right thing.
What was it that made you so uncomfortable, in general?
ADAM BOYD: I saw this push to find how can we accomplish the goal with anything that seems legal enough. We`re lumping people with no criminal history who have been here for a very long time with the "worst of the worst."
COWAN: As part of ICE`s legal department, attorney Adam Boyd provided guidance related to just how ICE officers perform their enforcement duties.
BOYD: There`s no question we have threats in our country. That`s why the State Department and Homeland Security and the FBI and all these agencies work together to keep people safe. This doesn`t feel like protecting the homeland anymore. It feels like we`re just hitting numbers and goals.
COWAN: Take the case of 20-year-old Dylan Contreras, who came into the U.S. from Venezuela under a Biden-era mobile app. Back in April, though, DHS began revoking the legal status of many of those who used that app to apply for asylum.
While his case was pending, Contreras had been attending high school in the Bronx learning English, and working as a delivery driver, in order to get his mom and his two younger siblings -- Helen, 10 and Caleb, 7 -- out of a shelter.
Last May, Contreras did what he was required to do. He showed up for his court hearing in New York.
So, on that day, you assumed this was just going to be another routine hearing in the process?
RAIZA CONTRERAS (via translator): Yes, I didn`t think anything bad would happen. He wanted to enter legally; he didn`t want to get in trouble. He did it the right way.
COWAN: As they left the courtroom, however, his mother, Raiza, says federal agents followed them into the elevator.
CONTRERAS: Like, five people or something came at me and grabbed me, pushed me to the floor. My son screamed, and they grabbed him, too, and put handcuffs on him.
COWAN: Just to be clear, Dylan didn`t have any criminal record at all.
CONTRERAS: Not at all, not at all. Those who know him, know.
COWAN: His case for asylum was denied last month. Pending an appeal, Contreras will be deported, leaving his mother and his two young siblings behind.
How are you doing?
CONTRERAS: Devastated, devastated, because I`ve always been with my children, and he`s been my partner. He`s always been more than a son, a friend, everything.
COWAN: The most recent ICE data, though, shows that those with no criminal record, like Contreras, now make up the bulk of those being arrested and detained.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, is quick to list the violent offenders who have been captured, and there are many.
As for Adam Boyd? Well, back in May he resigned his position at ICE citing "unforeseen circumstances."
How hard was it to quit?
BOYD: It was a difficult decision. If you think something is wrong, then you have to recognize that.
COWAN: He`s now working for a firm in Philadelphia defending those arrested by ICE, and that`s no small task. After passage of the "One Big Beautiful Bill," ICE is now the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in the federal government.
EDWARDS ACTON: I would tell everybody who thinks that this would never happen to them, that it could happen to them. And people need to be ready for it, and to think through the possible, you know, kind of responses to it.
COWAN: For Fr. Jaimie Edwards Acton, that response is no more hiding. For any immigrant, legal or otherwise, this is the new reality.
So, for those who are willing to come back, the church is open again, with eyes out for ICE, while they pray for peace and understanding.
Does it feel a little like David versus Goliath, though?
EDWARDS ACTON: Yeah, but, you know, David won that one.
