Former CNN host Don Lemon told minority Americans to arm themselves in case Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents come to their doors.

Lemon made the statement during an interview on “The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali.” He said he wasn’t promoting violence but claimed he was tired of “niceties” while ICE agents were supposedly “rounding [people] up off the street without due process” and “sending them off to a gulag.”

He told listeners, “If you believe in the Second Amendment, if you believe in the Constitution, Black people, Brown people of all stripes, whether you’re an Indian American or a Mexican American or whoever you are, go out in your place where you live and get a gun legally. Get a license to carry legally.”

Lemon then asked, “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?”

The comments came as ICE agents continue large-scale enforcement operations under the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Homeland Security data shows assaults against ICE agents have increased by more than 1,000% since those operations began.

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, claimed his comments were not a call to violence but an act of “self-defense.”

He said his hope was that his words would “knock some sense” into those in the Trump administration.

“Nobody is illegal,” Lemon said. “It is a misdemeanor to cross the border. Now, if you do it a number of times, then it becomes something else. But… there’s nowhere near the level of criminality. We have degrees of criminality in this country, and what Donald Trump did is at the highest level of criminality, except for taking someone’s life, and someone who is crossing the border is nowhere near that.”

His comments were met with immediate backlash online, with many accusing him of fueling hostility against law enforcement officers who already face dangerous conditions in the field.

Lemon’s host, Wajahat Ali, later defended him in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying that Republicans should support his argument on constitutional grounds.

“I only speak for myself, but Don Lemon has a right to express his views in the United States of America thanks to the First Amendment which is allegedly championed by the Trump administration,” Ali said.

He continued, “If anything, I’d assume Republicans would agree with him that Americans have the right to legally bear arms thanks to the 2nd Amendment. Unless, of course, they only believe that right exists for white Trump supporters? If so, they should admit that publicly.”

Neither Lemon nor representatives for ICE or the Department of Homeland Security responded to Fox News’ request for comment.

The Department of Homeland Security recently confirmed that ICE agents have faced a surge in physical attacks. According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, “Assaults against ICE personnel have risen by over 1,000 percent since immigration enforcement increased nationwide.”

In recent months, federal agents have reported instances of protesters blocking immigration facilities, slashing vehicle tires, and throwing projectiles at officers during raids in California and New Jersey.

The agency warned that violent rhetoric against law enforcement — especially when amplified by media figures — makes those confrontations even more dangerous.

Despite public outrage, Lemon has stood by his comments, claiming that his words were “taken out of context.”

The controversy adds to Lemon’s growing list of scandals since his departure from CNN, where he was accused of spreading misinformation and engaging in biased reporting.

His remarks now mark one of the most open endorsements of armed resistance ever made by a mainstream media figure — a stunning turn for someone who once lectured Americans about civility and unity.