Since March 8, Fox News' guests and personalities have made at least 77 claims advocating against the constitutional right of due process for noncitizens, regardless of legal status. Hosts on Fox have argued we should “revisit” due process, questioned “how much process” are noncitizens actually due, and claimed, “The only due process I believe in is the legal way to enter this country."

Due process is a fundamental right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution for both citizens and noncitizens alike in order to ensure people in America are given fair legal proceedings and protected from arbitrary government decisions.

Fox News ramped up its campaign against due process rights for noncitizens shortly after former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil was detained on March 8, apparently on the basis of his beliefs rather than any criminal conduct. On March 16, the number of claims against due process spiked following a federal court ruling regarding deportations of a group of people to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.

As the Trump administration detained and threatened deportations for an increasing number of foreign national students and professors — apparently in violation of due process rights — more evidence emerged that most of the individuals deported to El Salvador had no proven ties to criminal organizations and were denied due process as well. Despite — or, perhaps, because of — these mounting revelations of due process violations on both fronts, Fox News pressed forward with its campaign of attacking due process rights for noncitizens.

From March 8, when federal agents detained former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, through April 15, Fox News guests and personalities made at least 77 claims advocating against due process rights for noncitizens. The number of claims spiked first on March 16-17, with at least 13 claims made over those two days, following Judge James Boasberg's ruling temporarily blocking the deportations to CECOT. Daily claims spiked again on March 24 following another ruling in support of due process rights for noncitizens, with at least 15 claims made on that day alone.

Of all speakers on the network, host Lawrence Jones made the most claims arguing against due process rights for noncitizens, with at least 6 claims over the period. Hosts Kayleigh McEnany (5 claims), Brian Kilmeade (5), Trey Gowdy (4), Jeanine Pirro (4), and Sean Hannity (3) followed close behind. Of the 77 total claims attacking due process rights for noncitizens, nearly two-thirds (49 claims) came from network employees, with the remaining 28 claims coming from guests.

Notably, the network's flagship morning show, Fox & Friends, led all programs by a large margin in total number of claims arguing against due process rights, with 19 in total — 15 of which came from show hosts (Lawrence Jones, Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt, and guest host Kayleigh McEnany). Fox's so-called “news-side” show America's Newsroom had the next most number of claims arguing against due process rights, with 7 in total, followed by Hannity (6 claims), Outnumbered (5), and Fox News @ Night (5).

In a comment seemingly addressed to the children of individuals deported to CECOT, Fox & Friends' Ainsley Earhardt said, “If Daddy is a member of a gang, ... then Daddy has to leave the country.” She defended the deportations, citing a controversial 1948 ruling regarding the Alien Enemies Act that she said found deportations “shall not be subject to even judicial review.”

During another Fox & Friends segment, Brian Kilmeade argued that the United States doesn't have the capacity to give due process rights to migrants, saying, “It's not practical to think that we can do due process on 8 million people,” and adding, “If we are going to give ever these guys a day in court and a lawyer, we can't do it. They don't deserve it. Our system doesn't need to be double-burdened.” Co-host Lawrence Jones said constitutional rights “are afforded to illegals in this country. We should revisit that.”

Sunday Night in America host Trey Gowdy questioned how much due process Khalil is owed, saying, “What about a permanent resident who celebrates Hamas — how much process is he due?” He added, "Khalil promises to appeal. Ain't that some irony? The group he loves, Hamas, murders people with barbarism, depravity, no due process, and no appeal, but Khalil wants due process from a country he hates. How about a little due process for Jews, Khalil?

When pushed by her left-leaning co-host Jessica Tarlov on The Five, co-host Jeanine Pirro announced, “The only due process I believe in is the legal way to enter this country.”

Some on Fox News have explained the importance of due process. For instance, while discussing Trump’s attacks on law firms, Fox News contributor and former U.S. attorney Andy McCarthy noted that due process is a core component of the American justice system, saying,“The pattern that you're seeing again and again is that the Trump administration thinks that it's allowed to achieve an objective in the end, that it doesn't have to comply with constitutional requirements or due process in order to get from point A to point B, and we just don't do that in this country.” 

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for the term “due process” or any of the names of the most prominent student or professor activists detained and alleged gang members sent to El Salvador's CECOT prison (including misspellings) “Trejo,” “Suarez,” “Borges,” “Jesus,” “Cornejo,” “Pulgar,” “Quintero,” “Manzo,” “Lovera,” “Barrios,” “Garcia,” “Khalil,” “Ozturk,” “Chung,” “Khan,” or “Suri” or any of the terms “activist,” “student,” “alien,” “illegal,” “criminal,” “Tren de Aragua,” “El Salvador,” “gang,” or “convict” or any variations of any of the terms “migrant,” “immigrant,” or “terrorist” within close proximity of any of the terms “visa,” “green card,” “detention,” or “detain” or any variation of the term “deport” and also within close proximity of any of the terms “due process,” “right,” “court,” “hearing,” “judge,” “trial,” or “attorney” or any variation of the term “Constitution” from March 8, 2025, when federal agents detained former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil — the first such high-profile case reported in the news — through April 15, 2025.

We included claims, which we defined as instances when an uninterrupted block of speech from a single speaker mentioned due process of recently deported or detained noncitizens living within the U.S. For host monologues, headlines, and correspondent reports, we considered a single claim to be the speech between read quotes or played clips. We did not consider speech within the quote or clip unless a speaker in the segment positively affirmed said speech either directly before or after the quote was read or the clip was played.

We then reviewed all claims for whether they argued that recently deported or detained noncitizens living in the U.S. should not be entitled to due process.