Former CNN host Don Lemon is under fire after telling minority Americans to “get a gun” in case Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up at their doors—comments federal officials are calling reckless amid a nationwide rise in attacks on immigration officers.
Lemon made the remarks Tuesday during an appearance on The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali, saying Black and Brown Americans “of all stripes” should legally arm themselves in response to what he described as ICE “rounding [people] up off the street without due process.”
“If you believe in the Second Amendment, if you believe in the Constitution… go out in your place where you live and get a gun legally,” Lemon said. “Because when you have people knocking on your door and taking you away without due process as a citizen, isn’t that what the Second Amendment was written for?”
Don Lemon instructs illegal aliens "to go out and get a gun because when you have people knocking on your door and taking you away, isn't that what the second amendment was written for?"
The left is trying to get ICE agents killed.pic.twitter.com/B1lMqM2CqS
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) October 16, 2025
Lemon added that he was “not condoning or promoting violence,” but said he was “tired of the niceties” and accused federal immigration authorities of acting unlawfully under the Trump administration.
His comments quickly drew condemnation from the Department of Homeland Security, where officials said such rhetoric places law enforcement officers’ lives at risk.
“Calling for violence against law enforcement is un-American,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. “Officers are already facing a 1,000 percent increase in assaults against them — including terrorist attacks, vehicles used as weapons, and gunfire. Words have consequences, and this type of rhetoric is going to get one of our officers killed.”
Ali, the host of the podcast, defended Lemon’s statements, arguing that his guest was simply invoking the Second Amendment. “Don Lemon has a right to express his views … thanks to the First Amendment,” Ali said. “If anything, I’d assume Republicans would agree with him that Americans have the right to legally bear arms—unless, of course, they only believe that right exists for white Trump supporters.”
Lemon also claimed that illegal border crossings are only misdemeanors and suggested that former President Donald Trump’s actions were “at the highest level of criminality.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reported earlier this year that assaults on ICE agents have spiked over 1,000 percent since large-scale immigration enforcement operations resumed in the summer. Officials say many agents have been targeted with rocks, Molotov cocktails, and vehicles—and that online rhetoric encouraging violence has grown increasingly dangerous.
Federal authorities maintain that ICE agents operate under strict legal parameters and that due process applies only after individuals are taken into custody for immigration violations. “When public figures encourage hostility toward federal officers,” one DHS official said, “they’re not defending civil rights — they’re undermining them.”
