Bill Maher increased the intensity on Real Time Friday night, questioning guest Dr. Phil about his choice to join Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on raids during the Trump administration.

“Why are you participating in these ICE raids? I don’t get it,” Maher asked directly, highlighting the contradiction. “You’re someone who has spent years bringing families together… And now you’re involved in raids where families are being literally split apart.”

Dr. Phil didn’t take the remark lightly. “Well, that’s nonsense,” he retorted, drawing a parallel to domestic law enforcement. “If you arrest someone who’s a citizen… and there’s a child in the car, do you think they don’t separate that family at that moment? Of course they do!”

Maher wasn’t buying it, insisting, “That’s not what’s going on.” Moments earlier, he had introduced the segment by calling it “another thing” President Donald Trump is doing while “doubling down on unpopular.”

The former talk show host defended ICE agents, framing his remarks as a direct response to Maher’s opening monologue — which you can watch above — where the comedian criticized masked officers. Dr. Phil argued the masks were necessary after legislators “doxxed” them by posting “their names, their pictures, their addresses… on the internet” and even “on telephone poles.”

He also claimed to have seen “files” justifying the raids. “These are the worst first… child predators that they’re taking off the streets,” Dr. Phil said. “Who would want them back in their communities?”

ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith found partial agreement with Dr. Phil, noting that while he supports “closing the borders,” the administration’s tactics haven’t matched their rhetoric. “Who they have been targeting has been different than what they originally advertised,” he said.

Maher echoed that point, warning that targeting workplaces leaves undocumented people with few options. “If you can’t go to work because you’re hiding, what other recourse is it… except crime?”

Dr. Phil has reportedly joined ICE twice — once during January’s Chicago raids and again for Los Angeles raids in June.