On Monday, the “Big Three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC used their flagship morning news shows to side with dangerous illegal immigrants and Tren de Aragua members over the well-being of American citizens, denouncing their “controversial deportations” to a notorious jail in El Salvador and comparing President Trump’s decision to the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II.
In essence, the liberal media despicably chose to compare illegal immigrants to American citizens who were rounded up and placed in camps simply for having Japanese ancestry, one of the ugliest stains on our country’s history.
“Trump administration ignores a federal judge’s directive sending hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador with no due process, invoking a centuries-old wartime law to deport them,” ABC’s Good Morning America co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos complained.
Later, he claimed to viewers that “[a] constitutional clash is likely looming” and was followed by chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce declaring there to be “a real showdown between this administration and the judicial branch.”
Bruce further lamented: “[T]his morning, hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members are waking up in prison in El Salvador after the Trump administration rapidly deported them, ignoring a federal judge’s directive.”
She then made the Japanese-Americans comparison: “Trump over the weekend invoking the Alien Enemies Act, an obscure war time law from 1798, allowing the government to deport non-citizens with little or no due process. The law last used to play a role in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.”
“But after some non-citizens represented by the ACLU sued the administration, that federal judge in an emergency hearing Saturday ordered ‘any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States,’” she added.
Following a soundbite from an ACLU lawyer arguing this behavior calls into question whether America’s still “a constitutional republic,” Bruce also held up the deportation of “Brown University professor Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist....despite having a valid visa and despite a court order[.]”
Bruce conveniently ignored a key finding that Alawieh said she was in Lebanon for the funeral of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Chief Washington correspondent and three-time anti-Trump author Jonathan Karl also took umbrage with the mass deportations as “rather extraordinary” behavior to make “a calculated decision to ignore the judge’s directive” with flights having taken off before a far-left judge could stop them.
“By the way, that is an act that’s only been used three times in all of American history, so the judge was clearly skeptical of it...[T]his has huge implications for the other court cases working their way through right now on other actions by this President,” he added.
Over on NBC’s Today, co-host Craig Melvin teased a “showdown” with “President Trump facing a new legal fight after losing a centuries old wartime act to deport hundreds of migrants.”
Senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake had the story and at least pointed out Trump campaigned on using the Alien Enemies Act before referring the “controversial” and “stunning” flights (click “expand”):
HAAKE: President Trump promised during the campaign and his inaugural address to wield a rarely used, more-than-200-year-old law to target foreign gangs operating on U.S. soil. This weekend, he made good on that threat in stunning fashion, despite an order from a federal judge, sparking a new legal and political backlash over immigration. Overnight, President Trump defending his administration’s controversial deportations of some 300 alleged Venezuelan gang members. Not back to their home country, but to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
TRUMP: These are bad people. That was a bad group of, as I say, hombres.
HAAKE: The president of El Salvador posting this video on X of the deportation flights arriving and prisoners taken into custody and having their heads shaved. The White House claiming authority for the deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a statute last invoked during World War II. A federal judge immediately blocked the President’s proclamation and ordered any planes to return to the U.S. immediately, but they did not. The White House quickly appealing the judge’s order, claiming in a statement Sunday that it had, “no lawful basis” and was issued after the planes had left U.S. territory. The President responding to critiques about using the wartime power.
TRUMP: This is a time of war. [SCREEN WIPE] They invaded our country. So this is — in that sense, this is war.
As for CBS Mornings, co-host Tony Dokoupil followed the others by saying the administration was “disregarding a judge’s ruling on deportations, claiming in this case the court has no authority in the matter.” In a post on X, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed these descriptions as inaccurate.
Senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang started with the fact that the Alien Enemies Act was “last used during World War II” and the White House has been “defiant” in having gone through with the flights.
“The Alien Enemies Act allows for quick arrests and deportations without many of the legal processes for immigration cases. Trump insists he has the power to use the act...The Justice Department said the group had already left U.S. territory when the judge made the ruling,” she added.
She also had two soundbites from an ACLU official defending these dangerous gang members as having been victims of a “lawless” federal government.
To see the relevant March 17 transcripts, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
