Fox News’ stable of pro-Trump propagandists have assured their viewers that the president was justified in deporting hundreds of immigrants to an El Salvadoran prison notorious for abuse because the deportees were “the most dangerous illegals” and “the worst of the worst.” 

They credulously adopted the administration’s talking points, even as family members of deportees came forward to say that they were not criminals. But when CBS News actually did the legwork, its reporters found that the overwhelming majority of deportees had no record of committing violent crimes.

CBS obtained the names of 238 Venezuelan immigrants the Trump administration had claimed were members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang and deported last month under a rarely used wartime authority for imprisonment in El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center. The network “cross referenced that [list] with domestic and international court filings, news reports and arrest records whenever we could find them” and “found that an overwhelming majority have no apparent criminal convictions or even criminal charges.”

From Sunday’s report:

At least 22% of the men on the list have criminal records here in the United States or abroad. The vast majority are for non-violent offenses like theft, shoplifting and trespassing. About a dozen are accused of murder, rape, assault and kidnapping. 

For 3% of those deported, it is unclear whether a criminal record exists. 

But we could not find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans - 179 men- now sitting in prison.

Those facts stand in sharp contrast to the claims of the administration — and those of the Fox personalities who regurgitated its talking points to their viewers -- used to push back on critics who pointed out that some had been sent in error to a brutal foreign megaprison.

Fox host Laura Ingraham said that the deportees were “the most dangerous illegals.” 

On The Five, Jesse Watters called them “illegal alien gangbangers,” while Greg Gutfeld described them as “the criminal element” and “thugs.” 

Contributor Lisa Kennedy Montgomery alleged that they were “people who want to hurt, maim, and kill innocent Americans.” 

Anchor Sandra Smith and contributor Liz Peek both called them “the worst of the worst.” 

Fox & Friends’ Ainsley Earhardt said they were “alleged gang members” who “did something wrong,” while for Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, they were “terrorist-like people.”

For some, like Fox & Friends co-hosts Lawrence Jones and Brian Kilmeade, the purportedly obvious criminality of the deportees justified removing them from the country without due process. 

All of them, apparently eager to believe whatever they were told, were willing to accept the administration’s claims without scrutiny. Their response likely emboldened Trump, who on Sunday endorsed the idea that American citizens could also be sent to the El Salvadoran prison. 

And don’t expect Fox figures to change their tune following the CBS report — as of Monday morning, they were still uncritically adopting the administration’s spin.