Throughout Dan Le Batard’s long history of criticizing President Donald Trump on his radio show, the main point of contention has consistently been the President’s immigration policy.
So, it was no surprise to hear Le Batard make his first foray into political commentary in a while on Wednesday’s episode of the show, as protests broke out in Los Angeles and around the country over the administration’s accelerated deportation efforts. During a long segment in the third hour of the show, Le Batard expressed concern that his Cuban exile parents could fall victim to Trump’s policies and ranted against what he sees as a slippery slope in detaining Latin American immigrants.
Le Batard believes the end goal for Trump is to “make this country whiter.”
“This is exactly how it is that you circumvent what feels like American democracy to make sure that the others never unite like a union,” the Miami-based host said, referencing comments from guest host Domonique Foxworth, who formerly helped run the NFLPA. “You can always make them the others, and you’ll always have white people on your side. Trying to make this country whiter in a way that is overt, that is political, that is hateful, and allows you to keep the right to make all people other than you criminals based on whatever you make the laws … including just being brown, not having a license or being a criminal, because you’re ‘just like all those other dirty Mexican rapists that we had to build a wall to keep out.'”
Adding to his concern over the slippery slope of how immigrants will be identified going forward, Le Batard accused the Trump administration of violating the Supreme Court and the U.S. Constitution in their actions since Inauguration Day.
“We can hide under the semantics argument of, well of course illegal people who are here committing crimes shouldn’t be here. But that doesn’t mean you should make all brown people and Black people that,” Le Batard said.
“Of course, everyone can agree, yes, illegal criminals in this country, yes, get them out of here. But wait a minute. Who gets to decide what’s illegal and criminal when you’re just going to violate the Supreme Court and democracy and the constitution and everything else in the name of, now you’ve got an armed militia that says every protest is dangerous? Even the peaceful ones. And you can frame it that way because the people are brown.”
Indeed, several high-profile cases have led to questions about the legality of the administration’s immigration enforcement policies. News reports are linking more aggressive practices by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in Los Angeles and around the country, to Trump raising arrest quotas for immigrants earlier this month.
What set these comments from Le Batard apart is how rare they have become. In the lead-up to his breakup with ESPN and during the early years of his independent operation at Meadowlark Media, Le Batard frequently made headlines on topics ranging from culture wars and gun violence to climate change. He has cited the freedom to do so as a significant driver for going independent in the first place.
On Wednesday, Le Batard acknowledged he has changed his approach in recent months — but couldn’t stay quiet about the latest clashes in L.A.
“It gets a little bit uncomfortable around here when we politicize during happy sports times. I’ve made that change on behalf of the audience,” he said. “We identify as one of the things in sports that is (left-leaning) at a time that it’s more popular with young, white adults to not be that as the country moves toward Trump.”
If recent events are any indication, anger is boiling over toward the Trump administration. Le Batard mainly stayed quiet for the first 100 days and then some, but he may be re-entering the fray.
