On CNN, Tennessee Democrat Justin Pearson avoids saying who should be deported, calls to abolish ICE and overhaul border agencies

February 21, 2026

Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, a Democrat running for Congress, declined to name any undocumented immigrants he believed should be deported when pressed during a CNN panel segment with Republican commentator Scott Jennings. Instead, Pearson criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement and argued for abolishing ICE and replacing it — along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in its current form — with new agencies.

In a segment circulated online on February 21, 2026, Tennessee Democrat Justin J. Pearson — a state legislator who is running for Congress — was repeatedly pressed by Republican commentator Scott Jennings to say whether immigration authorities should deport undocumented immigrants and to name at least one case.

According to The Daily Wire’s account of the exchange, which embedded a social media clip attributed to Jorge Bonilla, Pearson did not provide a direct yes-or-no answer to Jennings’ question. Instead, Pearson criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and argued that ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), “in the way that they currently exist,” should be abolished and replaced with new organizations with different priorities.

In the clip as transcribed by The Daily Wire, Pearson said that “no one” in President Donald Trump’s administration could be “trusted” to hold themselves accountable to the public. He also referenced the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, saying authorities “didn’t want to share information about what was happening,” and used that to argue for dismantling the current agencies.

When Jennings asked Pearson what he wanted replacement agencies to do, Pearson responded that the job “is not killing American citizens.” Jennings continued to ask whether authorities “need to deport illegal aliens,” while Pearson focused on what he said immigration agencies should not do, including entering communities such as Memphis in ways he described as traumatizing.

The exchange continued for several minutes before host Abby Phillip moved the discussion on, according to The Daily Wire.

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Most of the core claims about the on-air exchange—Pearson’s refusal to name anyone to deport, Jennings’ repeated questioning, Pearson’s call to abolish ICE and replace current structures, and Abby Phillip moving the conversation along—are directly supported by the provided source, including multiple verbatim quotes. However, the provided source does not independently verify several contextual details (such as the precise CNN program identification and the exact duration of the exchange), and the reference to the Pretti and Good killings is only substantiated here as something Pearson said in the clip rather than being fully confirmed in this review with additional primary reporting. As a result, the account is solid on what is shown and quoted, but thinner on broader context and independent corroboration.

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• https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-asked-who-hed-deport-dem-candidate-performs-verbal-tightrope-act