MSNBC senior political and national correspondent Jacob Soboroff, reporting from Chicago, said federal agents “are going after people based on what they look like and what they sound like.” “I think Governor Pritzker made that point as well, which is, he believes there’s racial profiling going on,” Soboroff told MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing. “I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but essentially that’s what he’s saying, is that on the streets of Illinois, federal agents are going after people based on what they look like and what they sound like. And, certainly, that’s what — at least what I saw yesterday looked like to me.”

CHRIS JANSING, MSNBC:  Well, if I can, Jacob, I want to ask you about a couple things.   In our last hour, we talked about a couple of examples of things that had happened in Chicago — well, multiple ones. But I’m thinking particularly about the “Chicago Tribune” photo. Somebody’s videoing, which the governor just said, take videos, right, and has a weapon aimed at them. “The Chicago Tribune” has that picture.   And then the clergyman who it was reported was praying, hands raised, eyes closed, and was shot multiple times with pepper bullets. I wonder, if you have had a chance, because I know you were rushing to get over to be able to talk to the governor, but I wonder if you have had a chance to talk to the people who are in these crowds of protesters, any concerns they have, or what they’re telling you about why they feel strongly enough to be there on the streets.   JACOB SOBOROFF, MSNBC SENIOR POLITICAL AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT:  Let me, Chris — guys, let’s just move a little bit, because the governor actually — Chris, I will show you, the governor is having a media availability right behind us.   Connor (ph), just let them see that real quick. And so I just want to be out of the background of what the governor is up to.   The answer to the question is, I think, first of all, number one — we can stop here, guys.   Number one is that the people of Illinois, obviously, are out there and feel like that their rights are being infringed upon. And the governor said as much, which is why he continues to direct people to video. And these are all cases that are going to go into federal court eventually.   I want to remind everybody that, out at the Broadview facility — and I’m trying to see the pictures on the screen now if that’s Broadview or not. The Broadview ICE detention center, where the mother of Samantha and Mario and Daniel were taken after they were arrested, as you and I talked on the air yesterday, has been a flash point for a lot of these aggressive enforcement tactics, pepper balls being shot at journalists, as you said, guns being drawn in certain areas, less lethal weapons being drawn on civilians.   This is now almost like an everyday occurrence. And I think that, on the contrary to deterring people from being out in the streets, it has emboldened people to be out on the streets. And so you’re not really seeing sort of any shortage of that.   And I think that, as I mentioned to the governor, there’s a protest scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on the East Coast tonight, 5:30 p.m. here. He’s telling people to be out there. People are mobilizing. And I think we will be out there.   And so these types of confrontations, while they might continue, I actually don’t think that they’re slowing people down at all. I think it’s making people more likely to want to be out into the streets.   JANSING:  Well, one of the things that we have heard from the Trump administration is that they need folks there to protect their ICE agents, right?   So, again, I understand that this is anecdotal. I don’t want to overstate, but I do want to ask you about your experience over the last two days. You saw the video of the woman who was taken into custody, the one with the pink sweatpants on. You talked to her daughter. You saw or talked to a witness about the two gentlemen whose cups were left on a garbage can or a table when they were taken into custody.   You have witnessed some of this. Is there any indication that any of the folks who are being taken into custody are posing a threat?   SOBOROFF:  Absolutely not. Absolutely not, at least not in the situations that I have seen firsthand.   And I’m not saying that they’re not going after — and, look, I have spent a lot of time around ICE and the Border Patrol, ops, field operations at the ports of entry. San Ysidro port of entry is the largest land crossing in the Western Hemisphere. There are lots of threats that come into the United States.   And there are many agents who dedicate their lives to eradicating threats against the American homeland and the American people. That’s not what I am seeing take place here on the streets of Chicago. I am seeing everyday civilians, and, granted, they might be undocumented, taken into custody in sort of the course of their quotidian activities, walking to the market to go pick up meat to make a stew, coffee cups left on the side, as you said, of the road because they wanted to have a chat before they went off to work, one of them as a mechanic.   It is certainly not just the worst of the worst, and I can tell you that categorically, that people are going after here. And I think Governor Pritzker made that point as well, which is, he believes there’s racial profiling going on. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but essentially that’s what he’s saying, is that on the streets of Illinois, federal agents are going after people based on what they look like and what they sound like. And, certainly, that’s what — at least what I saw yesterday looked like to me.   JANSING:  And that he believes that this is a setup for the 2026 election. A lot of great information that we got from the governor there.

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