Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) admitted on Thursday that he is “aware of the optics” regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s handling of immigrants in the streets, but said the Trump administration is simply “trying to do the right thing by the American people.”
Johnson’s comments came on the Stephen A. Smith Show, where he added that President Donald Trump ran on illegal immigration, arguing “chaos” created by the open border was the No. 1 issue last fall.
“We’re aware of the optics, and we’re trying to do the right thing by the American people. That’s the promise we made last November,” he explained “The president ran on it, the border, the open border, and the chaos that it created, as you know, was really the No. 1 issue in the election last fall, and we went out and promised that we would bring order back to the chaos and that we would fix that we would we would stand for the rule of law. If you don’t have a secure border, you don’t have sovereignty as a country.”
Smith, a sports analyst who is increasingly dipping his toes in the political sphere, expressed his support for President Donald Trump’s border policy, saying if the border has been opened, you have to do something to close it, but added that the way it has been handled may not be the best optics. He went on to say that in some ways it can “mirror” his first term, and that “scares some people as well.”
“I don’t disagree with what he did with the border, because Biden should’ve never opened the borders,” Smith said.
“But I also know that the manner in which it’s been handled, particularly by ICE, you know in terms of people being grabbed in the streets; everybody’s not criminals, everybody’s not here illegally, and I think the optics and how bad it has looked has served to scare some of the American citizens,” he went on to say.
Trump campaigned on cracking down on Biden’s “failed” immigration policies. He nominated Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to fulfill his campaign promises to halt border crossings from immigrants crossing illegally and deport criminals who are in the country illegally.
A recent survey from The New York Times and Siena University showed that registered voters largely support the idea of removing undocumented immigrants, but many believe the Trump administration has gone too far. It shows that 59% of Hispanic voters strongly disagree with Donald Trump’s immigration policy, compared to just 17% who strongly approve.
Democrats had strong performances with non-white voters in both the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, following Trump’s inroads made with Black and Hispanic voters in the 2024 presidential election.
Many videos that have spread across social media show ICE officers chasing or surrounding people they deem immigrants who could be here illegally, many times receiving backlash from surrounding bystanders.
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Democrats have continuously slammed the Trump administration’s handling of ICE since he took office, as protests erupted earlier this year in Los Angeles, where some of the first ICE raids took place. Many Republicans remain confident in their messaging surrounding immigration, as Democrats continue their attacks.
This issue has also heightened the battle between Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), who is now being considered the front-runner for the Democrats’ 2028 candidate after the president initiated raids in California. The battle has escalated after Newsom garnered a massive victory, passing Proposition 50, following his push to redistrict the state to counter the Trump-backed redistricting effort in Texas.
