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ESPN Star Lauds Trump As FMR First Lady Sounds Alarm

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Stephen A. Smith
Photo Credit: Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith lauded President Donald Trump’s success in tackling illegal immigration on Monday.

The titular host, speaking on his podcast The Stephen A. Smith Show, gave a blunt assessment of the border crisis, making it clear that the former Democratic administration’s leniency on immigration had huge consequences.

“When it comes to immigration enforcement, there is no doubt that Donald Trump has been successful,” Smith began.

Trump rapidly issued a series of executive orders aimed at curbing the migrant surge when he took office in January.

They included designating certain gangs and cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and utilizing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to accelerate deportations of illegal immigrant gang members.

Smith pointed to the public mood, suggesting voters are responding to Trump’s firm policies, particularly after what many saw as an unraveling of order under Joe Biden.

“We can slice it any way we want to,” Smith continued, “but Joe Biden having an open border policy caused a lot of problems in this nation, particularly to the psyche of American citizens.”

Smith’s remarks touched on several high-profile consequences of Biden-era immigration policy.

He referenced financial strains from migrant-related welfare, citing a $53 million prepaid credit card program under New York City Mayor Eric Adams and debt tied to Medicaid spending in California under Governor Gavin Newsom. He also cited rising crime and safety concerns.

“You cannot have folks crossing the border illegally and in an undocumented fashion thinking that that is going to bode well for American citizens,” Smith stated.

“Whether it’s crimes in the streets, whether it’s the perception that the streets are unsafe in the streets of America simply because of an immigration problem,” he added. “You cannot have that.”

Under Biden’s leadership, net migration reached record highs. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported roughly 8.5 million migrant encounters at the southern border between 2021 and 2024.

Smith suggested that Trump’s early efforts in his second term were already shifting perceptions nationwide.

“The fact that Trump rolled up in there and cleaned this stuff up, prioritizing border control, definitely is going to be perceived as a plus, whether Democrats and others like it or not,” he told his audience.

According to a White House fact sheet released Monday, illegal border crossings, migrant encounters, and those evading apprehension, had dropped by more than 93% within Trump’s first 100 days back in office.

But while Trump earned praise from unexpected corners, his immigration policy also reignited fierce reactions from an expected source.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama, appearing on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, dramatically voiced concern about what she described as mistreatment of immigrants under the Trump administration.

“Well, in this current climate for me, it’s, you know, what’s happening to immigrants. So it’s not the fear for myself anymore. I drive around in a four-car motorcade with a police escort. I’m Michelle Obama,” she said.

Obama likened current immigration enforcement tactics to a personal memory from her brother Craig Robinson’s childhood, when two black police officers allegedly accused him of theft.

“So my fears are for what I know is happening out there in streets all over the city,” she said.

“Now that we have leadership that is sort of indiscriminately determining who belongs and who doesn’t, and we know that those decisions aren’t being made with courts and with due process and that it’s being made like this cop that pulled my brother over when he was 12.”

She warned that bias and racial prejudice were playing too large a role in immigration decisions.

“You don’t look like somebody that belongs. You know, I can determine just by looking at you that you’re a good person or you’re not a good person,” she continued.

“Knowing that there’s so much bias and so much racism and so much ignorance that fuels those kind of choices, I worry for people of color all over this country,” Obama added.

“I don’t know that we will have the advocates to protect everybody. That makes me – that frightens me. It keeps me up at night.”

Obama described observing people in Los Angeles and wondering how safe or secure they feel in their daily lives.

“I know that there are – and I see that when I’m driving around L.A. I’m just looking in the faces of folks who could be victims, and I’m wondering, ‘How are you feeling?”

“How do you feel standing on the bus stop? How do you feel comfortable going to work, going to school, when you know that there could be people out here judging you and who could upend your life in a second?’ That’s who I worry for right now,” she continued.

Obama’s remarks, delivered from a position of personal security and high visibility, drew scorn from social media users who questioned the credibility of her claims.

Several online critics pointed to her husband’s record, noting that President Barack Obama deported over three million illegal immigrants during his presidency.

“Spare us the crocodile tears, Michelle. Your husband deported millions while you smiled for the cameras. Now you’re pretending to be terrified? Pathetic. You had eight years to ‘protect’ people — you chose photo ops instead,” one user posted.

Another wrote: “Nothing says ‘I’m losing sleep over deportations’ like being married to the guy who set the all-time record and still getting standing ovations from the same people crying about it.”

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