MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Hosts Condemn 'Impossible to Watch' Video of ICE Detaining Mother and Daughter at Florida Hospital
Key Takeaways
- •Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla and her daughter, Giulianna Mía Carriel Calero, were detained by ICE agents after being taken to a Florida hospital following a crash.
- •The arrests prompted sharp criticism on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, where hosts described the video as disturbing and raised objections to the targeting of a mother and daughter.
- •The segment said the daughter was arrested in her hospital gown after being discharged and was awaiting deportation hearings.
- •The report noted that DHS rescinded prior guidance in January 2025 that had generally kept immigration arrests away from sensitive locations such as hospitals, schools, and churches.
- •Hosts on the program argued that the incident reflected continued aggressive enforcement under the Trump administration.
Video of two Ecuadorian women crying and screaming as they were manhandled by ICE agents inside a Florida hospital set off a furious reaction on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Tuesday morning.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski shared the viral clip of Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her daughter, Giulianna Mía Carriel Calero, 19, who were grabbed by agents after being rushed to a hospital following a crash.
ICE — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is the federal agency responsible for immigration enforcement inside the United States. For years, that enforcement was generally kept away from "sensitive locations" such as hospitals, schools, and churches under long-standing departmental guidance, which DHS rescinded in January 2025, removing the prior restriction on arrests in medical settings.
Brzezinski called what she watched "sick," which prompted co-host Jonathan Lemire to respond.
"What are we doing here as a nation? What are we doing?" he exclaimed. "This is not the worst of the worst that President Trump promised that he would focus on during the campaign and his administration keeps saying. They're targeting a mother and daughter at a hospital in video that is impossible to watch."
Co-host Willie Geist then invoked White House adviser Stephen Miller, a longtime architect of the administration's immigration policies who helped shape its first-term travel ban and now serves as deputy chief of staff for policy.
"In the case of that hospital scene, the sick thing, John, is that there are people, Stephen Miller comes to mind, who like what they see in that picture, because it sends a message to other people, don't come here unless you want to be this person," Geist stated.
As the clip ran again, Geist added, "This is the mother, and then later, the daughter, who had just been in a serious car accident was arrested in her hospital gown when she was discharged, awaiting deportation hearings. It sickens most Americans to watch this, but not enough people in the Trump administration."
"This will continue," Lemire interjected before repeating, "This will continue, the quotas are still in place. Stephen Miller still has calls multiple times a week with DHS officers saying, 'We need to get our numbers up. We need more people.'"
DHS, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, oversees ICE.
The clip: YouTube
