On Monday, television host Phil McGraw, popularly known as “Dr. Phil,” shared video of himself accompanying ICE officers as they conducted a round-up of immigrants in Chicago.
Some of this footage, filmed for McGraw’s Merit Street Media, was shared widely on social media.
The idea of media personalities making content out of immigration enforcement is certainly disturbing and speaks to a well-documented history of the demonization of immigrants in the American media. But McGraw is also hopping on a fairly recent trend of pro-Trump influencers launching propagandistic media ventures to inflame anti-immigrant fervor.
Reuters reported on this trend last year, when it covered the pro-Trump immigration influencers firing up “fears of migrant ‘invasion’ ahead of [the] U.S. election.”
Reuters’ video about the trend is here:








