As the Trump administration continues to expand immigration raids, arrests, and mass deportations, right-wing media have pushed for a more e
Gideon Taaffe and Noah Dowe at MMFA:
As the Trump administration continues to expand immigration raids, arrests, and mass deportations, right-wing media have pushed for a more exclusionary America, calling for targeted deportations of noncriminal migrants and elected officials they deem “not American.” Despite initial promises that the Trump administration’s mass deportation program would focus on “the worst of the worst,” right-wing media personalities are now arguing “all 10 million have to go,” attacking people who don’t speak English, and suggesting that “if America is just a passport, then America is dead.”
The Trump administration has continued deportations of thousands of people, many of whom have no criminal history
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, the large majority of detainees have no criminal convictions. The Cato Institute reported that as of June 14, 65% of ICE detainees had no criminal convictions and 93% had no violent convictions. The Cato Institute's report claimed, “ICE’s deportation agenda is not what is being advertised to the American public. ICE is not interested in prioritizing public safety, yet it constantly pretends that anyone who objects to its tactics and priorities is defending violent criminals. But violent criminals are not ICE’s primary focus. Indeed, it now has no focus altogether. That’s the essence of mass deportation: it is indiscriminate, unfocused, and chaotic.” [The Cato Institute, 6/20/25]
The Trump administration is expanding its deportation efforts toward noncriminal migrants. According to ABC News, from Inauguration Day to May 4, only 44% of ICE detainees had criminal convictions and 23% had no criminal history. However, starting at the end of May, those numbers flipped, with only 30% of detainees having criminal charges and 44% having no criminal history at all. [ABC News, 7/1/25]
Under Trump, ICE has been targeting migrants at immigration courts and arresting people whose cases have been dismissed by judges. According to ABC News, immigration attorneys that spoke to the network claimed the Trump administration “is now using dismissals to detain people at immigration courts and place them into expedited removal without allowing them to fight their case.” [ABC News, 6/4/25]
Right-wing media claimed Trump would target the “worst of the worst” but have expanded to attack naturalized and native-born citizens
Right-wing media personalities have repeatedly downplayed and denied that the Trump administration is deporting innocent people. In late January, Fox News contributor Paul Mauro claimed that the Trump administration is not deporting “the abuelitas,” but the “worst of the worst.” Another Fox News contributor, Liz Peek, claimed in February, “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.” Fox’s Joey Jones pushed back on reports of “nonviolent criminals” being deported, claiming they were “hanging out with the violent criminals.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 1/31/25; Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 2/3/25; Fox News, Outnumbered, 2/4/25]
Amid the deportation expansion, MAGA media have increasingly harnessed their “hostility toward immigrants to take aim at naturalized and native-born citizens in an assault on American identity itself.” Non-white elected officials and candidates across the nation, including Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh were attacked by right-wing figures as “not American,” with some even calling for their deportation — even though all of them are U.S. citizens. [Media Matters, 8/25/25]
MAGA media blowhards push faulty arguments about the Americanness of immigrants and native-born descendants of immigrants.
