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Right-wing media's campaign against due process for immigrants

Figures on the right falsely claimed that migrants don't -- or shouldn't -- get constitutionally protected rights

Written by Torri Lonergan

Published

The Constitution guarantees due process rights for everyone in the United States, regardless of citizenship status, but as part of their ongoing effort to defend President Donald Trump’s mass deportations, right-wing media have repeatedly and wrongly insisted that immigrants are excluded from this constitutional protection.

Some right-wing media figures have alleged only “nut jobs” believe undocumented immigrants deserve due process, and some have claimed that even legal immigrants “have no rights at all.” Others on the right acknowledged that migrants have rights but cheered at the prospect of taking them away, lamenting that constitutionally enshrined rights like due process and habeas corpus were slowing down mass deportations.

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  • According to the Constitution, immigrants have the right to due process

    • Experts explain that all people in the United States, regardless of their immigration or citizenship status, are guaranteed certain fundamental constitutional rights, including due process. PBS News wrote that “Many parts of the Constitution use the term ‘people’ or ‘person’ rather than ‘citizen,’" with Yale Law School professor Cristina Rodriguez explaining “those laws apply to everyone physically on U.S. soil, whether or not they are a citizen.” These rights include due process, which the American Civil Liberties Union notes entitles everyone to “a chance to defend themselves in a fair hearing” and habeas corpus, “the constitutional right that ensures that people have a chance to challenge their imprisonment in front of a judge,” according to the American Immigration Council. [PBS News, 6/25/18; American Civil Liberties Union, 5/28/25; American Immigration Council, 5/22/25]
    • The Constitution states that Congress can suspend habeas corpus but only “when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.” In May, the Trump administration weighed suspending habeas corpus, suggesting that immigration to the United States constitutes an ”invasion." PBS reported that “federal courts around the country” are already “raising questions about whether the country is truly facing an invasion.” [PBS News, 5/20/25; American Immigration Council, 5/22/25]

  • Right-wing media figures falsely claimed immigrants do not have constitutional rights

    • Right-wing podcaster and Trump ally Laura Loomer asked, “Who on earth thought that illegal aliens should be entitled to legal representation and rights? These people are not entitled to due process in our country.” Loomer continued, “I don’t even give a shit about all these illegal alien kids.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 4/30/25]
    • YouTuber Zack Hoyt said, “I don’t think the Constitution applies to illegals.” Hoyt, who goes by Asmongold, said, “I don’t really think that illegals deserve due process, by the way. I don’t think the Constitution applies to illegals.” Hoyt acknowledged that the government could ”get it wrong" when detaining immigrants but said: “There’s people in jail for murder that didn’t commit murder. … Does that mean we shouldn’t put people in jail for murder? It just doesn’t make any sense.” [Asmongold, Asmongold TV, 6/9/25]
    • Fox host Sean Hannity asked, “Why do people have this belief system that you enter the country illegally and then you, quote, ‘automatically have constitutional rights’? You do not, in my view.” Hannity also said, ”Why do so many federal judges believe that the safety and security of all of you comes second to the so-called due process rights of illegal immigrants that broke into this country illegally, broke the law, committed serious crimes?" [Fox News, Hannity, 5/21/25]
    • Hannity has repeatedly referred to the “so-called rights of illegals.” In one example, Hannity said Democrats put “the rights of illegals — so-called rights of illegals — over your safety,” saying Democratic politicians were throwing ”temper tantrums out as ICE is trying to do their job in Los Angeles. They arrested murderers and child molesters, gang members, I mean, some of the worst of the worst. You'd think they would be happy, but they're not." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 7/1/25, 7/24/25; Fox News, Hannity, 7/14/25, 7/15/25, 7/22/25]
    • On Fox Noticias, former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Emilio Gonzalez said immigrants recently deported to and imprisoned in El Salvador — including those who came here legally — “at a certain point … have no rights at all.” Gonzalez said, “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]

  • Right-wing media specifically and falsely claimed immigrants don’t have a right to due process

    • Former Fox host Jeanine Pirro, currently the U.S. attorney for D.C., said, “The only due process I believe in is a legal way to enter this country.” Pirro said of Trump's deportation of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to a megaprison in El Salvador: “They are illegal. They are committing crimes, OK? We do not have to have them convicted of a crime to remove them.” Pirro later said the Fifth Amendment, which confers the right to due process, “says nothing about illegals” and “the Supreme Court never said in Abrego Garcia case that due process is required for illegals.” [Fox News, The Five, 3/17/25, 3/17/25, 5/5/25]
    • Right-wing podcaster Barry Ramey complained that “fucking nut jobs” are “making that case” that “Pablo, who entered the country illegally, deserves due process somehow.” [U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Columbia, 7/7/23; WarBoys Studios, Lords of War, 7/1/25]
    • Fox News contributor Liz Peek said, “I'm so sick of hearing about due process for people who are in our country illegally. They're not citizens. They do not have the due process accorded American citizens.” SlateStone Wealth partner Kenny Polcari added, “The whole due process thing goes — for me — goes right out the window. You're not an American citizen, so you're not entitled to due process when you've come here illegally and you've broken our laws.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 4/21/25]
    • On Fox, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Victor Avila said, “That section of people that are here in this country illegally, you know what the due process is for them? To be identified and removed immediately.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 7/17/25]
    • Fox anchor Harris Faulkner said undocumented immigrants should lose their right to due process if they are “caught trying to go after an ICE agent,” adding, “Not that you ever really had it anyway, because you’re not a real U.S. citizen.” Faulkner added, “You broke into the country. You broke our first law.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 7/17/25]
    • The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh urged Trump to “ignore” what he called an “illegitimate” Supreme Court order requiring that immigrants be given advanced notice of their deportations as part of their due process rights. Walsh complained, “This is completely bogus. It's illegitimate. It's ridiculous. Trump should ignore it. That's the only answer … The Supreme Court has given their personal opinion that they think, you know, if you're gonna deport an illegal alien, they should get more than 24 hours notice. So that's their personal opinion. Thanks for letting us know, guys. Really interesting. I'm glad you chimed in. Really interesting opinion. Thanks for that. Anyway, let's get back to deporting the illegal aliens.” [Politico, 5/16/25; The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 5/19/25]

  • Other times, right-wing media figures said migrants shouldn't have due process, with many arguing the constitutional right is too burdensome

    • On his radio show, Sean Hannity argued, “We don't have the capacity to put that many people on trial or give them, quote, the ‘due process’ when we know they're here illegally.” He asked, “What are we gonna have millions and millions of trials in this country? What, 14 million illegals are going to go before a judge and on trial? And who's gonna pay for that?" [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 5/5/25]
    • War Room host Steve Bannon complained, “I think the due process is grossly overstated. It ought to be, get them on a plane and get them the hell out of here." [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 7/1/25]
    • Fox 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.” Kilmeade later reiterated, “We can’t give due process to all of them.” [Media Matters, 3/24/25, 3/24/25]
    • Fox host Jesse Watters complained, “Foreign terrorists illegally in the country, they can’t get hearings and trials and appeals. We’ll never get any of these bad hombres out of here … It doesn’t belong in the criminal justice system.” He complained that “liberal MS-13 lawyers” are “what slows down mass deportations” and applauded Trump for using his “instincts” to decide who to deport. Weeks earlier, Watters had said, ”If you have a face tattoo and you have criminal convictions in this country and you’re a foreign national and you get picked up, I don't want a lawyer, I don't want an appeal. I want you adios, goodbye." [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 6/6/25; Fox News, The Five, 5/19/25]
    • Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone argued only U.S. citizens “deserve” due process rights. Casone said, “These are not American citizens that are being held in this detention facility. None of them are a legal American — a legal American citizen. That's when you deserve due process. I’m sorry.” [Fox Business Mornings with Maria, 5/12/25]
    • Former acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli argued, “There’s so much due process in place, and to me and so many other Americans, if you break into this country, effectively, if you break our laws to be here, you shouldn't get that benefit on the way out. And that’s really slowing the president down.” Cuccinelli said the “courts” are an “impediment” to Trump’s mass deportations and we have “a very difficult system for moving these folks out.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/4/25]
    • Referring to “millions of illegal aliens,” National Review staff writer Caroline Downey asked, “Should Trump have to use due process to export them back? Of course the answer should be no.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 5/6/25]
    • Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said, “I'm not that concerned whether someone who broke a law — my law to get into my country and is taking welfare from my pocket gets due process.” Carlson added, ”I am for due process specifically for me. I'm an American citizen." [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 4/29/25]
    • Fox host Todd Piro said: Some “on the left say, ‘Due process!’ … If you have to do a full process, like Joe Biden and his administration wanted for every single illegal, that would take until the dawn of time is over.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 5/23/25]
    • Podcaster Tim Dillon said, “I think you need some” due process rights for migrants, but “I don't think you need as much as other people think you need, depending on what they've done.” [The Tim Dillon Show, 5/17/25]
    • Article III Project founder Mike Davis argued that accused gang members and terrorists should be given “zero” notice ahead of their deportations. He complained that if immigrants accused of crimes are given notice, “they have a chance to file a habeas petition during that time frame … Who knows how long that will take. Who knows the number of appeals.” [Real America’s Voice, The Charlie Kirk Show, 5/19/25]

  • Right-wing media also advocated for suspending habeas corpus for immigrants

    • Conservative commentator Rogan O'Handley argued that “we should consider suspending the writ of habeas” so that “we can start to take more drastic actions to deport illegals, especially the cartels, without judicial overview, without the courts getting involved.” Handley, who goes by DC Draino, explained to Steve Bannon, “I would say 10 to 20 million illegal aliens coming into this country counts as an invasion, especially when many of the illegal aliens are coming from hostile adversaries like China, like Ukraine, like … Venezuela, the Tren de Aragua. They're being sent by these governments.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 4/22/25]
    • The following month, Bannon argued Trump is “going to have to” suspend habeas corpus, “because these courts are going to continue to try to jam him up.” And later Bannon hailed himself and O’Handley as “the biggest advocates of doing what Lincoln did: start suspending the writ of habeas corpus, put them on an aircraft and get them the hell out of here.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 5/16/25, 5/30/25]
    • American Principles Project’s Terry Schilling said, “I think suspending habeas corpus for noncitizens is considered due process. They're getting the process that they're due, right?” [YouTube, Timcast, 5/10/25]
    • Newsmax host Greg Kelly said, “Habeas corpus is great, but I don't think it applies to an illegal alien.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 7/8/25]
    • Right-wing influencer Steven Crowder said “I go back and forth” on suspending habeas corpus but defended those considering it, saying “the reason they’re talking about” this is “a 20 million-large invasion” and “the president and the federal government has authority” to “make sure that citizens are safe from external and internal threats.” Crowder continued, “I think the threat is actually a — I think it’s a smart move to make. I don’t know if they necessarily — I go back and forth … I think for anyone who is an actual, like, affiliation with MS-13, like, yeah. OK great. Yeah. If there's a gray area, you know what, let's play it safe.” [YouTube, Louder with Crowder, 5/12/25]
    • Former congressman and One America News host Matt Gaetz argued that we’re headed toward suspending habeas corpus, calling the move “unavoidable.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 5/14/25]