Corporate Media Finds New Way To Gaslight Readers About Illegal Immigration

Several corporate media outlets have used the term “unauthorized immigrants” to describe those who illegally entered the U.S. and have been deported by President Donald Trump.

These outlets appear to be using the term to downplay that these individuals blatantly violated U.S. immigration law, and that many have committed heinous acts against American citizens. These outlets include NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, The Guardian and Axios.

The Washington Post published an article on May 9 with the headline, “Trump pushes unauthorized migrants to ‘self-deport’ as lawyers raise red flags,” which covered the Trump administration’s self-deportations program which gives those in the U.S. illegally the option to return home.

The Post used the term in a caption and lede in its May 31 article titled, “Justice Dept. targets migrants who do not sign up for Trump’s registry.” The article reports about illegal immigrants who failed to register their presence in the U.S., which is currently federal law.

“The Justice Department is wielding a little-known law to criminally charge unauthorized immigrants who have failed to register their presence in the country, threatening them with potential jail time and fines under a new Trump administration initiative,” the Post’s article began.

ORWELLIAN: The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, and Axios are now calling illegal aliens “unauthorized immigrants.” pic.twitter.com/KZZRP2exn7

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 3, 2025

While also covering the self-deportation program, NBC News claimed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is “intensifying its efforts to persuade unauthorized immigrants” to use the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App to send themselves home.

The New York Times covered the Trump administration’s plan to end federal benefits for illegal immigrants and ensure they go to American citizens in need, and stated that so-called “unauthorized immigrants” rarely receive federal benefits.

“Although Republicans say they want to remove incentives for people to enter the country illegally, unauthorized immigrants generally do not receive federal benefits given efforts to chip away at their eligibility,” the Times wrote.

NPR directly used the term in its headline, “These Democratic governors are trying to curb health care for unauthorized immigrants.” The article, written by Dana Ferguson and Laura Fitzgerald, reported how states like California and Minnesota are planning to roll back coverage that they passed in order to provide coverage for “immigrants without proper authorization.”

Axios referred to illegal immigrants as “unauthorized immigrants” when it pointed to the states with the most illegal immigration enforcement, and The Guardian claimed that the Trump administration froze social security funds for these so-called “unauthorized immigrants” because they believed that these programs incentivized them to vote Democrat.

The Trump administration detained and deported many dangerous criminals that these outlets referred to as “unauthorized immigrants,” including child rapists, murderers and violent gang members. Corporate outlets have referred to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an alleged gangbanger and wife beater, as a “Maryland man” and father.

Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, received life imprisonment without parole for the death of Laken Riley, while El Salvadoran national Victor Martinez-Hernandez is on trial for the murder and rape of 37-year-old Rachel Morin.

Two illegal immigrants believed to be part of the violent criminal gang, Tren de Agua, strangled 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Texas and dumped her body in a river.

Border czar Tom Homan, who has overseen the arrests of brutal criminals, described the human trafficking cases that have haunted him during a May 15 appearance on “The Shawn Ryan Show,” including the horrific case of a nine-year-old girl getting raped multiple times by a criminal cartel.