Fox & Friends flails in defense of Trump’s plan to detain arriving immigrant families indefinitely

Trump’s favorite show is going back and forth over whether the policy will indeed allow indefinite detention of families

On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced “a regulation to allow it to indefinitely detain migrant families who illegally cross the border,” scrapping the existing 20-day detention limit for families with children. In its initial reporting the same day, Fox News acknowledged that migrant families arriving at the southern border face “indefinite detention” under President Donald Trump’s announced plan. But beginning Thursday morning, the hosts of Fox & Friends began to contradict themselves and other Fox coverage; some insisted that the detention of families won’t be indefinite, while others acknowledged that it will be.

The August 21 edition of Fox & Friends opened with the announcement that the Trump administration intends to scrap the 1997 Flores court agreement that limits family detention time and establishes minimum facility standards, which the show’s hosts referred to as a “loophole” in the immigration system. Co-host Steve Doocy said: “What would happen now is it looks like the family unit would be kept together indefinitely until they get their day in court.”

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Citation From the August 21 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

On America’s Newsroom later in the morning, co-anchor Sandra Smith introduced acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan by stating: “Our next guest calls [the policy change] a critical update, allowing those families to be held indefinitely while they await a decision on their immigration status.”

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Citation From the August 21 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom

Fox’s flagship evening news program, Special Report, opened with a segment in which White House correspondent John Roberts said: “The Trump administration today moved to indefinitely detain families who cross the border illegally.” During Roberts’ report, one of the on-screen chyrons also stated: “Trump seeks indefinite detention for migrant families.”

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Citation From the August 21 edition of Fox News' Special Report

On August 22, however, Fox & Friends began its program with an effort to spin Trump’s new policy. Doocy at first repeated that the administration is saying “we’re going to have permanent rules to establish the fact that we can hold families together, indefinitely, until they get their day in court.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade immediately interjected, claiming, “The goal is not to hold families indefinitely.” After the show aired criticism of the new policy, Doocy walked back his earlier statement, saying: “It’s not indefinite. It’s until they get their day in court.”

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Citation From the August 22 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

In the next hour, co-host Steve Doocy introduced Fox White House correspondent Kevin Corke by saying that he joins the program “with reactions from both sides and some pushback, Kevin, because some people are saying the children will be detained indefinitely, which the White House says is not true.” “That’s right,” Corke responded, noting that the White House is saying that “even though it would be technically indefinite if it were approved, it most likely -- we’re looking at 60 days.”

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Citation From the August 22 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

Mark Morgan, Trump’s acting Customs and Border Protection commissioner, joined Fox & Friends a little later and said he appreciated the hosts for “doing a great job this morning laying it out for the American people.” Morgan then said it’s a “false narrative” that the Department of Homeland Security will be able to detain families indefinitely under Trump’s new policy:

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Citation From the August 22 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): So, Mark, what will happen is these family units will be detained as a unit. Two questions for you. One, some critics say it's indefinite, which makes it sound like it could be 25 years, or 25 months, or something. Is it indefinite, and, also, if, for instance, somebody is posing as a family member, and they’re not part of the family, will they still be kept together?

MARK MORGAN (ACTING CBP COMMISSIONER): So, two great questions. The first one, indefinite. That's just a false narrative. And again, the three of you have been doing a great job. History shows -- remember, the family residential centers, this process, this isn't new. This is actually created in 2015 under the previous administration, under the family residential centers. So it's not indefinite, and history shows it's about 40 or 50 days. That's what we are talking about, from 20 to about 50 to 60 days in general is what we’re talking about. It's not indefinite. It's just long enough to go through the immigration process.

Fox & Friends aired yet another segment after the interview with Morgan, in which co-host Ainsley Earhardt, along with Doocy, claimed family detention is “not indefinite” under the change.

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Citation From the August 22 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

During the August 22 edition of America’s Newsroom, guest co-anchor Jon Scott said: “Strong new reaction pouring in from both sides after the Trump administration announces new immigration rules that would keep families of migrants together indefinitely as they await court dates.” America’s Newsroom also displayed a graphic which stated: “President Trump defends plan to allow indefinite detention of migrant families.”

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Citation From the August 22 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom

During the same program, Fox correspondent Peter Doocy also referred to Trump’s new policy as aiming to hold families “indefinitely,” saying, “The Trump administration believes that locking up families they catch crossing the border illegally and holding them indefinitely is going to cut down on human trafficking.”

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Citation From the August 22 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom

Cornell University Law School professor Stephen Yale-Loehr told NPR that the rule would “probably” be blocked by courts.