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Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley used a segment about UConn Huskies star Alex Karaban to launch a political rant during CBS’ broadcast of March Madness on Sunday.
CBS featured Karaban in a story about his family. His mother, Olga, came to Massachusetts from Ukraine with her parents and grandparents in 1996. His father, Alexei, immigrated to the United States from Belarus on a work visa in 2001.
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UConn forward Alex Karaban (11) speaks during a news conference before a game against Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
After the segment aired, Barkley lamented the alleged treatment of legal immigrants.
“I want to be careful with my words at the moment because it’s a really delicate subject for me,” he said. “I love this child and his family, but the way some of these other immigrants are being treated in our country right now is a travesty and a shame. I think there’s a difference between extraordinary immigrants and criminal immigrants. I think what’s happening in our country, what we’re doing to some of these extraordinary immigrants, is really unfortunate and it’s really sad.
“And it’s a great immigrant story. We have a lot of great immigrant stories whose stories need to be told, but some of the things that are happening to immigrants in our country right now are really unfortunate and really unfair. But immigrants built this country and we should admire them and respect them.”
Former NBA player Charles Barkley during a pro-am before the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge on March 4, 2026 in Orlando, Florida. (Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
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Barkley cited no examples of legal immigrants being treated poorly in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regularly announces the arrests of criminal illegal immigrants accused of heinous crimes in the United States.
Yet DHS and agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are regularly criticized for their tactics in arresting illegal immigrants.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani offered new criticism of ICE ahead of a “No Kings” rally.
“We clearly state that no one is above the law in this city, that everyone must respect the rule of law,” Mamdani said. “I made it clear to the president, both in our private conversations and in our public conversations, that I believed ICE was a malicious agency.”
Protesters hold a “Stop ICE” sign after being removed from the building by Seattle police during a bill signing event with Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson regarding limiting facial coverings on law enforcement officers and making impersonating a peace officer a felony, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
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Mamdani added that he believes ICE is “reckless” and “doing nothing to advance the cause of public safety.”
