Chris Hayes Spikes Trump’s ‘Paid Agitators’ Argument Against ICE Protests: They’re ‘Parents and PTAs’ | Video

Reporting from the ground in Minneapolis this week amid protests against ICE, MS NOW host Chris Hayes called into “Morning Joe” Wednesday to discuss the city’s resiliency and organization against the federal agency’s occupation, shutting down President Donald Trump’s argument that such demonstrations are headed by “paid agitators” and not concerned residents.

“I’ve been struck by a few things,” Hayes said after airing footage of his recent ride along with the city’s grassroots ICE Watch org. “One, the unity that people feel. People genuinely feel under siege. Just talking to folks, it’s hard to grasp just how ubiquitous the presence of these agents has been. Everyone is either directly impacted or one person away from it.”

“That sense of siege has created this incredibly steely sense of unity along with a lot of grief and rage after two people were shot and killed by agents of their own government,” Hayes said.

“Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist asked Hayes about Trump’s continued assertion on Tuesday that the protesters appear to be “paid agitators” because they’re so organized. “There’s a difference between being organized and being an outside agitator or mercenary of some kind,” Geist emphasized.

“It’s so funny this idea of paid agitators,” Hayes agreed, calling out a right-wing influencer who sounded the alarm on the fact an ICE Watch training session had hand warmers and snacks. “It’s like, right, every single travel soccer game has that,” the journalist quipped.

Hayes then broke down one of the major ways Minneapolis residents have become so unified, communicative and organized in their ongoing peaceful protests.

“If you’re a parent, you are on five to 10 WhatsApp groups for different activities, travel basketball, classes. What’s happening here is that all of those WhatsApp groups that got created for that have become Signal groups about how they can make sure ICE doesn’t kidnap a teacher at their school or a kid at their school,” Hayes said. “So all of this civic infrastructure that exists, a lot of this has been parents and PTAs. ‘Who’s bringing snacks to this week’s soccer game?’ is now, ‘How do we make sure that this family can get groceries because they’re afraid to leave the house because they might get snatched in the street.'”

The “All In With Chris Hayes” host compared the movement to Civil Rights figurehead Rosa Parks and the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted 381 days.

“All that year, it was all logistics. Like, how are people going to get rides? Who’s giving rides to who? Like, real sort of granular stuff about how to make this work,” Hayes said. “And that’s what you’re seeing here, is this remarkable, voluntary ad-hoc but highly organized civic infrastructure grow up, born purely out of a desperate desire to protect their neighbors.”

Watch Hayes full “Morning Joe” interview in the video below.

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