The networks spent the better part of last week advocating on behalf of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia student agitator being processed for denaturalization and deportation due to his activities in material support of Hamas. However, when it came to a Rhode Island doctor who left the country to attend a Hezbollah funeral, ABC and CBS decided to bite their tongues, completely omitting the story from their evening newscasts.
NBC, though, found a bit of time for the story- albeit tucked into their story on deportations of suspected gangbangers and subsequent detention in a Salvadoran supermax:
KELLY O'DONNELL: In a separate deportation case, a Brown University professor of medicine with a valid visa was detained, then sent back to Lebanon. The Department of Homeland Security posted, that Rasha Alawieh had admitted she attended a funeral for the leader of Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., and said she supported him. Her removal called “common sense security.” Her attorney could not be reached.
That’s a hair over 25 seconds, in total. 25 seconds does not afford a whole lot of time to get the full story out. Its burial within another story, as opposed to covering it as a standalone item, screams “pro forma”. Here’s how The New York Post reported the story:
The Trump administration deported a Lebanese doctor who was an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school after she addmitted that she attended a funeral for slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, officials said.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, was arrested after arriving at Boston’s Logan International Airport from Lebanon on Thursday. Her family claimed that officials provided no reason for her deportation, and they argued her rights were being violated because she had an active visa to live and work in the US.
The DOJ has since alleged that the Providence, Rhode Island, resident and visa holder has an affinity for the Hezbollah terrorist group, with Alawieh allegedly admitting that she attended the Nasrallah funeral last month while visiting family in Lebanon.
Per other reporting, a search of Alawieh’s phone allegedly turned up images supportive of both Nasrallah and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In the aggregate, a lot more than made it into NBC’s item. However, NBC’s 25 seconds was 25 seconds more than did ABC and CBS.
It turns out that some aliens are deportable due to the views they hold, if those views are not aligned with U.S. interests. After advocating for Khalil, ABC and CBS could not bring themselves to admit this- choosing instead to suppress a counternarrative story. Credit to NBC News for having both a shred of integrity and 25 seconds.
Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on the NBC Nightly News on Monday, March 17th, 2025:
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
3/17/25
6:31 PM
LESTER HOLT: Good evening and welcome. The Trump administration's widening crackdown on illegal immigration taking on new dimensions tonight, including challenging the authority of courts to dictate such matters and arming the president with new tools. In Washington this afternoon, a hearing concerning the administration's decision over the weekend to use the Enemy Aliens Act to deport from the U.S. hundreds of individuals said to be affiliated with Venezuelan and El Salvadoran gangs without due process. Today’s hearing to determine whether the government violated a court's directive to order deportation flights to return to the U.S., those flights instead flown to El Salvador. The White House saying they paid $6 million to detain them there. President Trump saying the gang's presence in the U.S. amounts to an invasion. It's the latest flashpoint over the president’s aggressive moves to carry out mass and targeted deportations. Kelly O'Donnell has details.
KELLY O'DONNELL: Tonight, a federal court seeking answers from the Trump administration as The White House mounts a vigorous defense of its mass deportation of undocumented migrants it says were charged with violent crimes, pushing back against a federal judge.
STEPHEN MILLER: I would think without question, the most unlawful order that any district court judge has issued in our lifetimes.
O'DONNELL: Posting a cinematic, music-backed video of the operation, The White House touted the removal Saturday night of nearly 300 migrants. Officials said investigators determined these are violent members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs, classified as foreign terrorists. The White House said the U.S. government paid El Salvador $6 million to detain the deportees.
TOM HOMAN: We’re not stopping. I don't care what the judges think, I don’t care what the left thinks, we're coming.
O'DONNELL: At issue, whether the Trump administration complied with a federal judge's order to temporarily delay deportations, including whether any flights took off after the order was issued. The White House says it complied.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: All of the planes that were subject to the written order, the judge's written order, took off before the order was entered.
O'DONNELL: President Trump invoked a 1798 law, the Alien Enemies Act, which does not require due process in wartime. However, the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela or El Salvador. Mr. Trump defended his approach.
TRUMP: That’s an invasion. They invaded our country. So this is an- in that sense, this is war.
O'DONNELL: In a separate deportation case, a Brown University professor of medicine with a valid visa was detained, then sent back to Lebanon. The Department of Homeland Security posted, that Rasha Alawieh had admitted she attended a funeral for the leader of Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., and said she supported him. Her removal called “common sense security.” Her attorney could not be reached. These actions come as new NBC News polling shows 44% say the country is on the right track, the highest number in 20 years. So 54% find the U.S. headed in the wrong direction. The president's 47% approval rating is his highest across both terms while a majority, 45%, disapprove.
HOLT: And Kelly, we mentioned at the top of the broadcast that court hearing was under way, it has just ended and I understand the judge had some pretty tough words for the Trump administration.
O'DONNELL: That's right Lester, the administration said it could not answer when deportation flights happened, which would have affected compliance, claiming they could not answer due to national security. The judge called that “one heck of a stretch,” and said his authority was valid even if the planes were outside of U.S. airspace. Lester.
HOLT: All right. Kelly, thanks.
