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Fox flails to defend Trump's mass deportations, lack of due process

From “these are not the abuelitas” to “the rest are illegals, so what's the problem,” Fox keeps widening the net on who should be eligible for removal

Written by Emma Mae Weber & Torri Lonergan

Published

As it becomes increasingly obvious that the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign is indiscriminately targeting immigrants, including migrants without criminal records, Fox News has struggled to rally around a single narrative about the raids, detentions, and deportations, offering a variety of defenses and excuses. 

In the weeks after President Donald Trump took office, the network dutifully repeated the administration's claim that it would focus on the “worst first” and denied that immigrants without criminal records were being targeted, even as reporting showed that they were. 

At the same time, some network faces were already suggesting that simply being undocumented “would make you a criminal by definition,” saying that crossing the border was “the first crime.” 

By March, Fox personalities were saying that deportees “don't deserve” due process and suggesting that everyone being swept up in the raids was a gang member — despite reporting that many deportees and detainees had no criminal records, and that some even had legal protected status.

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  • Trump campaigned on “mass deportations,” claiming he would focus on the “worst first.” As president he has deported both undocumented and documented migrants

    • Trump pledged to deport between 11 million and 21 million people but said he would target “the worst first.” The higher figure could include all undocumented immigrants and some legal immigrants, although it wasn’t immediately clear how Trump arrived at this number. However, the Trump administration claimed that it would target “the worst first,” and that criminals would be prioritized for deportation. [Media Matters, 11/18/24; The Guardian, 11/8/24; Axios, 11/11/24]
    • Reporting in January and February began to expose that many immigrants arrested and deported in the crackdowns had no criminal record. In January, NBC reported that of the 1,200 arrests in one day, “nearly half of those detained don't have criminal records.” In February, ProPublica reported that “less than half of the approximately 8,200 people arrested from Jan. 20 through Feb. 2 so far have criminal convictions.” [ProPublica, 2/7/25; NBC, 1/27/25]
    • President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, an obscure wartime law, to deport alleged gang members, but recent reporting by CBS indicated most of the 238 deported migrants have no apparent criminal records.  The Trump administration flew 238 migrants to El Salvador, imprisoning them, even after a judge ordered the flights to be turned around. The implementation of this act means the allegations of criminal gang activity likely won’t be litigated in court. But an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said in a sworn declaration that many of those deported had no criminal record in the U.S., and CBS reported that “an overwhelming majority have no apparent criminal convictions or even criminal charges.” Many family members of the deported Venezuelans say their loved ones were targeted due to their tattoos. [NYT, 3/17/25; ABC, 3/18/25; The Washington Post, 3/18/25; Mother Jones, 3/26/25; CBS, 4/6/25] 

  • Fox heralded the “worst first” policy, claiming the most dangerous criminals would be deported first

    • Fox host Jesse Watters called deported immigrants “dirtbags” and said they were part of the “removing the worst first” phase of Trump’s mass deportation plan. Waters claimed those arrested were “charged with kidnapping, assault, and burglary.” [Fox News, The Five, 1/28/25] 
    • Fox host Harold Ford Jr. applauded Trump’s deportations, saying, “People being deported who are criminals, this worst-first policy, that may be the best thing he does.” Ford Jr. argued, “The worst first policy is the right thing. I think people are going to give the president a lot of latitude and be patient with him, in terms of if he goes – if he is too aggressive, I think people will be forgiving. I think people want to see illegals in this country who have committed crimes deported. I think people want to see their neighborhoods made safer.” [Fox News, The Five, 1/23/25, 1/23/25]
    • Fox contributor Steve Hilton said, “The great Tom Homan is executing the strategy to perfection: The worst go first.” Hilton described Trump’s deportations plan as “a simple idea. Let's focus on the violent criminals who shouldn't be here in the first place and are a threat to our people, our families, and our communities.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 1/27/25]
    • Fox anchor Harris Faulkner said the Trump administration was “looking to boot out the worst first, the violent criminals.” Faulkner claimed immigration officials were targeting “those who have been deported, come back, been deported, come back.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 1/31/25]

  • Fox also denied that immigrants without criminal records would be targeted and told viewers the administration was deporting criminals

    • Fox contributor Paul Mauro denied nonviolent criminals were being deported, saying, “These are not the abuelitas. … These are people who are child traffickers, murderers, rapists. Some of the worst of the worst." Mauro asked, “You want that in your neighborhood? Of course you don’t.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 1/31/25]
    • Fox contributor Liz Peek claimed, “ICE is not raiding people's homes and picking up housekeepers and other people who are simply here illegally. They are targeting hardened criminals and gang members.” Peek claimed that “everyone in the country is glad to see those people out of here.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 2/3/25]
    • Fox anchor Martha MacCallum denied that immigrants without criminal records were being deported. When guest David Carlucci pointed out that a large portion of people arrested by ICE “are not dangerous criminals; they're just undocumented,” MacCallum interrupted to deny his assertion, “That's not what we understood. This is the worst-first policy,” mentioning “child abusers” and “sex abusers.” [Media Matters, 1/28/25]
    • Fox anchor Harris Faulkner suggested the 4,000 immigrants arrested in ICE raids during Trump's first week in office committed violent crimes, even though reporting showed otherwise. Faulkner said, “These are illegal immigrants in our country committing crimes. Violent crimes, either known about in their previous country or it's happened here.” Faulkner finished by saying, “They got to go.”  [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 1/28/25; NBC, 1/27/25]
    • Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy claimed the planes of immigrants being sent to Colombia were “full of criminals.” Campos-Duffy carried on, “Now those criminals are back in Colombia, and Colombia is sending another plane in the coming days to pick up the criminals that belong to them.” Colombia's government claimed there were no criminals on the flights. [Fox Deportes, Fox Noticias, 1/28/25; Washington Post, 1/28/25] 
    • Campos-Duffy later claimed that “this phase is just for criminals,” insisting that “those who came and crossed illegally” were not being targeted for deportation. She listed “criminals, murderers, rapists, and members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13” as examples of those being sought for deportation. [Media Matters, 2/7/25]
    • Anchor John Roberts claimed people being deported “by and large have some sort of criminality attached to them.” Roberts said, “We are a nation of immigrants, but the people who are being targeted are in this country illegally, and, by and large, have some sort of criminality attached to them.” [Fox News, America Reports, 2/4/25]
    • Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo claimed the people Trump sent to El Salvador “are the people that went on mopeds and started stealing people's bags… and that’s just the least of it.” Fox contributor Liz Peek said, “Polling shows Americans, 85% or something, approve of getting rid of convicted criminals.” Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone also said that the people being deported were MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members and were “the worst of the worst” and had been “accused of heinous crimes.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 3/17/25]

  • Fox also cheered the deportation of nonviolent immigrants, labeling all undocumented immigrants criminals

    • Faulkner defended the deportation of pregnant women and children: “The first crime is when you break our law of sovereignty coming into the country.” Faulkner later doubled down on her support for deporting pregnant women; “Breaking our initial law, whether you are, whatever your health or medical situation … is breaking our laws to get into the country.” [Media Matters, 2/3/25]
    • Fox News host Jeanine Pirro said immigrants “will be worried … but the bottom line is they’re not here legally.” Pirro elaborated, “We are going to get to the point where, you know, people are going to say, ‘Oh, they’re hiding, they’re worried’ -- yeah, they are hiding, they will be worried. And, you know, Selena Gomez can keep crying and Joy Reid can keep calling people's names, but the bottom line is they’re not here legally.” [Fox News, The Five, 1/28/25] 
    • Fox host Sean Hannity said, “If you come in the country illegally, you didn't respect our laws, our borders, and our sovereignty, that would make you a criminal by definition.” Hannity made this claim while attacking a bishop for preaching compassion at the inaugural prayer service in January. [Media Matters, 1/21/24]
    • In response to reporting that 50% of those being deported have no criminal record, Fox host Greg Gutfeld said, “But the rest are illegals, so what's the problem?” Jeanine Pirro chimed in, “Don’t act like we’re sending out not the worst of the worst.” [Fox News, The Five, 1/30/25]

  • Fox also made excuses for officials sweeping up noncriminals in raids

    • Fox contributor Johnny “Joey” Jones said “nonviolent criminals” were included in deportations only because they were “hanging out with the violent criminals.” Jones detailed one example: “They’ve made that clear. The only nonviolent criminals they’ve rounded up for deportation were those hanging out with the violent criminals. I think they raided New York, got 20, and I think 12 of them were violent criminals. The other eight were hanging out with them, so yeah, they’re going to get deported, too. So, it's a nonissue.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 2/4/25]
    • Fox host Brian Kilmeade claimed raids target “illegal aliens who have a criminal past,” but people who “don’t belong here either” will get examined in court. Co-host Steve Doocy noted, “With that flight we just saw, we did see some women involved, we don't know whether they have a criminal history.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 1/29/25]
    • Jones also said he doesn’t “care” if immigrants held in Guantanamo Bay during deportation proceedings have criminal records. Jones argued, “It does send a message to the southern border and the northern border that if you cross into our country illegally, you're not just going to get put up at the Hilton in downtown New York.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 1/31/25]

  • And Fox dismissed concerns about, or advocated for, a lack of due process

    • Fox host Jeanine Pirro dismissed concerns about undocumented asylum-seekers being denied due process, saying, “The only due process I believe in is a legal way to enter this country.” Pirro supported Trump deporting alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to be imprisoned in El Salvador because “they are illegal. They are committing crimes, OK? We do not have to have them convicted of a crime to remove them.” [Fox News, The Five, 3/17/25, 3/17/25]
    • Fox Noticias guest Emilio Gonzalez said the people being deported to El Salvador don’t have rights, even those who came here legally. Gonzalez said, “These people, at a certain point, I’ll tell you, have no rights at all,” and added, “They are not residents, they are not citizens. They came to this country under a program which was, if not illegal, it was improper, and under this president it’s simple, crimes like that which we have seen in the past four years will not be permitted.” [Fox Deportes, Fox Noticias, 3/17/25]
    • Fox guest Lauren Tomlinson excused the imprisonment of Venezuelans, saying, “While not all of them may be gang members, the point is that we don't know that they're not gang members.” Fox anchor Bill Hemmer chimed in, “But we do know they're illegal.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 3/20/25]
    • Maria Bartiromo criticized efforts to prevent untried migrants from being deported to El Salvador, falsely claiming, “We know that these are dangerous gang members.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 3/27/25]
    • Host Brian Kilmeade argued, “It's not practical to think that we can do due process on 8 million people.” He continued, “We can't do it, they don't deserve it. Our system doesn't need to be double burdened.” [Media Matters, 3/24/25]
    • Rachel Campos-Duffy said that by demanding due process for those deported to El Salvador, liberals were trying to create a “hurdle” for the Trump administration “to have to somehow prove that they are gang members.” Brian Kilmeade also said, “We can’t give due process to all of them” and proposed setting up some other system for handling alleged gang members’ deportations. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/24/25]