MSNBC host Symone Sanders ignited backlash after suggesting that deporting illegal immigrants could somehow lead to Black American citizens being targeted next. During a segment discussing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, Sanders referenced the deportation of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia—a Salvadoran national with alleged MS-13 ties—and claimed such actions could set a dangerous precedent for broader civil rights violations.
“If they can do it to them, they’ll do it to us,” Sanders warned, drawing on arguments made by Janai Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who claimed that authoritarianism takes root through incremental actions. Sanders doubled down, asserting that the deportation of illegal immigrants amounts to a civil liberties crisis that could eventually sweep up law-abiding U.S. citizens—particularly Black Americans.
Democrat Congressman Glenn Ivey echoed her concerns, suggesting the Black community should be alarmed by the broader implications of strict immigration enforcement and should support bringing Abrego-Garcia back into the country.
MSNBC’s @SymoneDSanders on Kilmar Garcia’s deportation: Black people “are next in line” pic.twitter.com/e6EFVZrSJG
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 19, 2025
Critics were quick to push back. Conservative commentators and legal analysts called the comparison irresponsible and dangerous, pointing out that Abrego-Garcia is a foreign national with a criminal history, not a U.S. citizen with constitutional protections. “This isn’t about race,” one official stated. “It’s about national security and enforcing the law.”
Supporters of President Trump’s immigration policy accused Sanders of deliberately stoking fear to distract from the real issue: restoring order at the border and removing individuals with gang ties and violent records. “Deporting MS-13 suspects is not a slippery slope—it’s common sense,” said one Trump administration official.
The controversy underscores a growing divide in the immigration debate—between those focused on law, order, and national sovereignty, and those more concerned with ideological narratives than the safety of American communities. As the Biden-era rhetoric continues to unravel, the American public is left to decide: is enforcing immigration law an act of justice—or a threat to democracy?
For most Americans, the answer is clear: citizenship matters, and conflating illegal immigrants with law-abiding Black citizens isn’t just misleading—it’s insulting.