What To Know
- Bill Maher discussed recent intensified ICE raids in Minnesota on his show, highlighting disturbing images of detainees, including children and vulnerable individuals.
- He criticized the Biden administration for the handling of immigration enforcement and the negative optics resulting from these actions.
- Maher predicted that the Republican Party would suffer significant losses in the upcoming midterm elections due to public backlash over the ICE raids.
Bill Maher made a blunt prediction about the midterm elections amid the intensified ICE raids in Minnesota.
On the Friday, January 23 episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, the host, 70, made his 2026 return after an extended holiday break.
During a discussion with guest panelists, U.S. Sen. John Kennedy from Louisiana and CNN analyst Kasie Hunt, Maher brought up the increasingly aggressive ICE in Minnesota.
“Suggestion for the people in Minneapolis,” he said. “How about this? It’s so cold in this country, this storm that’s happening. How about it’s too cold to fight, and use that as an excuse, a face-saving excuse for everybody just to go home.”
Maher continued, “ICE, you made your point. You made your point, OK? We got into something with too many illegals. Yes, that happened under [Joe] Biden. But these images, like I said, really ugly. I mean, when I think of some of these things that we’ve seen.”
“The guy out in his underwear, no clothes on in the cold,” he began, narrating photos on the screen, of an American citizen who was detained with barley any clothing.
“The kid,” he added, of a 5-year-old asylum seeker who was detained shortly after arriving home from preschool.
Maher continued, “The pepper spray in the face, the disabled lady being pulled out of her car.”
That’s when Maher turned to Kennedy and said, “John, I’m just going to say it to you,” he began. “I’m not trying to pick a fight right away.”
He then boldly declared, “My prediction is this stuff, your party is going to get the dog s*** kicked out of you in the midterms. Because this is not what people voted for, and they’re going to hold the party responsible, as they should.”
To that, Kennedy pointed out, “I support enforcing our immigration laws. Now, how you enforce them matters.”
Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays at 10/9c, HBO