Opinion - When it comes to deportations, why are the media hiding the ball?
Few things are so unhelpful as the journalist who buries the lede.
There has been a lot of that lately, especially insofar as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown is concerned.
Take, for example, the case of the Georgetown University researcher arrested in Virginia last week over his alleged ties to terrorism. Badar Khan Suri reportedly spread Hamas propaganda online while having 'close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,' according to the Department of Homeland Security.
This is pretty serious stuff, which is why the coverage has been so maddening. In most reports, the allegations against Suri are buried so deep as to be next to the dinosaur bones.
'Trump is seeking to deport another academic who is legally in the country, lawsuit says,' reported Politico on March 19. The subhead adds, 'Badar Khan Suri, a fellow at Georgetown, says he is being punished because of the suspected views of his wife, a U.S. citizen with Palestinian heritage.'
The Associated Press ran the same story, but with the headline, 'Government cannot deport Georgetown scholar until court rules, judge orders.' The subhead adds, 'A federal judge has ordered immigration officials not to deport a Georgetown scholar that the government detained until the court has had a chance to rule.'
NBC News published the headline, 'Georgetown University graduate student detained by immigration authorities,' with a subhead that reads, 'A lawyer for Badar Khan Suri, who was teaching on a student visa, said Thursday that he is grateful for the support he has received since his arrest.'
These are just a few headlines and news blurbs plucked at random, but they represent the overall coverage. We are immediately provided with the who, what, where and even when — but not with the why. That's an omission so glaring as to be intentional.
It is possible — but unlikely — for a journalist to forget outright one of the five Ws of lede writing. But the entire newsroom? And for the issue to be spread out over multiple organizations? The word 'unlikely' is getting a workout this week.
Now, regarding Suri's arrest, there are some pertinent details you ought to know. First, he is in the U.S. on a temporary visa. He is an Indian national and married to Mapheze Saleh, a Gaza-born U.S. resident. Saleh is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, who has served as a senior political adviser for Hamas (although he claims he no longer holds this position).
To recap: A guest in the U.S., who is the son-in-law of a (possibly) former Hamas official, has been arrested and detained on allegations that he promotes agitprop for a designated terrorist organization. Whether the charges hold up is one thing, but these are indisputably the federal government's allegations against Suri.
Yet, were you to read Politico's original scoop on the matter, you couldn't find DHS's justification for the arrest until the ninth paragraph, and that's only after the reader is told the foreign national 'has no criminal record' and merely '[opposes] U.S. foreign policy toward Israel,' or so says his lawyer.
The Associated Press does only slightly better, mentioning the Hamas propaganda in the opening paragraph but failing to note Suri's connection to Hamas leadership. The Associated Press eventually revealed this connection, but only in passing and only to suggest there's no there there. And maybe there isn't, but when this familial connection represents half of DHS's argument against Suri, why save that information for the 10th paragraph, and why note it only in passing?
By glossing over this latter detail and focusing solely on the 'propaganda' angle, the Associated Press has effectively reframed the story as a free speech issue exclusively, rather than one that also concerns alleged national security issues.
For NBC News, it took 11 paragraphs before readers learned of the allegations against Suri.
The coverage has been every bit as befuddling and exasperating as the initial coverage of the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, the 30-year-old Columbia student and legal permanent resident whom ICE arrested and detained over his alleged support for Hamas. If you recall the early coverage of his arrest, there was plenty in terms of human interest — everything from details of Khalil's marriage to his campus activities. But there was precious little about why the federal government detained him.
It took me multiple articles and independent research to understand DHS's position — not because the federal government lacked an explanation, but because few media outlets bothered to publish it.
There's a robust and worthwhile debate to be had about these arrests. Some conservatives have expressed discomfort over the legality of such actions. However, it will be impossible to have the discussion if the media continue to hide the ball on the why of these arrests, ignoring or downplaying the behaviors and factors federal authorities cite as legal justification.
We can't have the debate if we have only partial information.
Becket Adams is a writer in Washington and program director for the National Journalism Center.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Epoch Times
20 minutes ago
- Epoch Times
Trump Admin Can't Detain Mahmoud Khalil on Foreign Policy Grounds, Judge Rules
A federal judge ruled on June 11 that President Donald Trump's administration cannot use foreign policy interests to justify detaining Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who played a leading role in the pro-Palestinian protests that rocked the school across 2024. Khalil, a lawful permanent resident in the U.S., has proven that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, family, and free speech rights, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz
Boston Globe
35 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Judge says government must release Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil
Khalil's lawyers challenged the legality of his detention, accusing the Trump administration of trying to crack down on free speech. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he has the power to deport Khalil because his presence in the U.S. could harm foreign policy. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz had ruled earlier that expelling Khalil from the U.S. on those grounds was likely unconstitutional. Advertisement In a new ruling Wednesday, the judge said that Khalil had shown that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, his family and his free speech rights. Farbiarz gave the government until Friday to appeal the decision. He also required Khalil to post a $1 bond before he is freed. 'The court's decision is the most significant vindication yet of Mahmoud's rights,' said Ramzi Kassem, co-director of CLEAR, a legal nonprofit and clinic at the City University of New York that represents Khalil. 'But we aren't out of the woods until Mahmoud is free and back home with his wife and child.' Advertisement Lawyers and spokespersons for the Justice Department, which is handling the case, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Dr. Noor Abdalla, the wife of Mahmoud Khalil, spoke during an unofficial alternative graduation ceremony on May 18, at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in upper Manhattan. TODD HEISLER/NYT The judge's decision comes after several other legal residents targeted for their activism won custody in recent weeks, including another Palestinian student at Columbia, Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify the deportation of Khalil and others, which gives him power to deport those who pose 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' Khalil isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and 'pro-Hamas,' referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn't among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations. But images of his maskless face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, have made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of 'siding with terrorists,' but has yet to give any evidence for the claim. Advertisement The Trump administration has said it is taking at least $400 million in federal funding away from research programs at Columbia and its medical center to punish it for not doing enough to fight what it considers to be antisemitism on campus. Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during the demonstrations or ostracized because of their faith or their support of Israel.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Judge says government must release Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil
A federal judge has ruled that the government must release Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student whom the Trump administration is trying to deport over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Donald Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. He was then flown across the country and taken to an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, thousands of miles from his attorneys and wife, a U.S. citizen who gave birth to their first child while he was in custody. Khalil's lawyers challenged the legality of his detention, accusing the Trump administration of trying to crack down on free speech. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he has the power to deport Khalil because his presence in the U.S. could harm foreign policy. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz had ruled earlier that expelling Khalil from the U.S. on those grounds was likely unconstitutional. In a new ruling Wednesday, the judge said that Khalil had shown that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, his family and his free speech rights. Farbiarz gave the government until Friday to appeal the decision. He also required Khalil to post a $1 bond before he is freed. 'The court's decision is the most significant vindication yet of Mahmoud's rights,' said Ramzi Kassem, co-director of CLEAR, a legal nonprofit and clinic at the City University of New York that represents Khalil. 'But we aren't out of the woods until Mahmoud is free and back home with his wife and child.' Lawyers and spokespersons for the Justice Department, which is handling the case, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The judge's decision comes after several other legal residents targeted for their activism won custody in recent weeks, including another Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi, a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk, and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify the deportation of Khalil and others, which gives him power to deport those who pose 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' Khalil isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and 'pro-Hamas,' referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn't among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations. But images of his maskless face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, have made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of 'siding with terrorists,' but has yet to give any evidence for the claim. The Trump administration has said it is taking at least $400 million in federal funding away from research programs at Columbia and its medical center to punish it for not doing enough to fight what it considers to be antisemitism on campus. Some Jewish students and faculty complained about being harassed during the demonstrations or ostracized because of their faith or their support of Israel.
