Phil McGraw, aka Dr. Phil, analyzed the border crisis with Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Monday, saying that Americans need “to stand up for this country” to stanch the influx of undocumented immigrants. (Watch the video below.)

McGraw dispensed folksy advice for decades on his TV talk show. He also courted controversy in allegedly exploiting guests with mental illness and spouting dubious anti-lockdown views during the pandemic. (He went there on Monday as well.)

So an interview with Watters, whose troubling comments about immigration have made headlines, would seem to set the stage for some fireworks.

But McGraw railed at the border crisis in a more muted manner.

“I think people are afraid to take a position on this because if they take a position and say we should control the border, then they are labeled as anti-immigration, they’re labeled as haters for these different countries that people are coming from, but that’s missing the point, isn’t it?” McGraw said. “Because we are not talking about immigration. We are talking about illegal immigration. I’m very pro-immigration.”

“So am I,” replied Watters, who recently called young migrants “banditos” and once suggested that those who want to immigrate should help build the border wall to qualify.

“We need immigrants in this country,” McGraw continued. “We got a 1.6 birth rate. We need 2.1 to sustain our infrastructure here. I welcome immigrants into this country, but we need to know who they are, don’t we? We need to know who it is that’s coming into our country. We need to be able to sort through these people, and those that are enemies of the United States that are coming into the country, those that are on the terror watch list coming into the country ― those people certainly need to be filtered and stopped, and when you come into the United States illegally, that’s a felony.”

McGraw said people’s willingness to speak up on divisive issues has greatly diminished since the 1950s because of social media and the potential for being targeted.

“I love this country, and we need to all stand up for this country and stop apologizing for this country,” McGraw added. “Stop apologizing for having rules and guidelines, stop apologizing for having a border that’s not a turnstile. ”

H/T Mediaite