Organizing engagement initiatives and covering immigration under Trump 2.0
Credit: Chelsea Naughton | America Amplfied
Covering immigration under a new administration requires thoughtful engagement, detailed planning, and a commitment to ethical journalism. This tipsheet offers practical guidance for organizing engagement initiatives and reporting responsibly on immigration. Grounded in NPR’s latest editorial guidance and insights from experts, the document emphasizes protecting sources, safeguarding journalists, and maintaining editorial integrity.
From earning community trust to avoiding sensationalism and managing legal risks, these recommendations aim to help newsrooms navigate the complexities of immigration coverage while fostering respectful interactions and informed and empathetic reporting.
NPR latest guidance: (Released Jan 13th, 2025)
When referring to people who are in the United States without the government's permission, we should use the term “people who are in the United States without legal status.”
Use the term “illegal immigration,” not “illegal immigrants.”
Try not to use terminology that talks about natural phenomena — for example, a “flood” of immigrants or “waves” of immigrants.
Note: These tips on protecting sources and safeguarding journalists and newsrooms are based on an interview with immigration attorney Ezequiel Hernández.
1. Protecting sources
Engaging with immigrant communities
If your newsroom is used to organizing public listening sessions, consider moving to smaller gatherings and private spaces to ensure migrants feel safe and open to talk about their cases and concerns. Partner with local organizations to help bridge trust issues when organizing these vents. Private spaces will force authorities to have a warrant if they plan to detain people. Also, keep in mind that people might be detained when exiting the event.
Prioritize in-person listening and reporting
Avoid online listening sessions, desktop journalism, and interviewing through phone calls when engaging and interviewing immigrant communities. Try to leave the fewest digital traces of your communications with them so as not to put them at risk.
Limit the information collected and do not store or publish sensitive data
Validate documents during in-person interviews and avoid keeping records of them that authorities could later subpoena. Never publish A-numbers (immigration case identifiers), passports, IDs, or details that could identify individuals who do not have papers. Laws that protect journalists from handling information about anonymous sources can be challenged and overruled by courts.
Ensure true anonymity
Although it is important to confirm identity and stories, only gather essential details from immigrant sources, especially if they don’t have legal status. Avoid asking for full names, addresses, or identity documents to reduce the risk of exposure if courts request information. Consider not asking for people’s entire personal information when signing in to events. Guarantee that anonymity is genuine.
Be mindful of visual identifiers and use images and videos responsibly
If you gather images during engagement initiatives or reporting, avoid publishing/airing people’s faces without informed consent. Pay close attention to background details, such as landmarks, street signs, or recognizable elements that could reveal a source’s location. If possible, only mention the state where the person lives when reporting about them.
Consider risks to families in countries of origin
When covering immigration stories, consider the impact on family members in the source’s home country. There have been cases where families were blackmailed or experienced kidnapping attempts or targeting by criminal groups who identified them through reporting.
2. Protecting journalists and newsrooms
Establish safety protocols for raids and develop internal policies
Establish clear editorial guidelines for handling sensitive information and responding to legal requests. Information gathered during engagement initiatives may be subject to subpoenas, too. Journalists caught in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) raids should remember they are only required to respond to court orders, not to immediate demands from immigration agents. Avoid carrying sensitive information on electronic devices during assignments or engagement initiatives.
Avoid using WhatsApp or other platforms to receive documents
While sources may send documents via messaging apps, journalists should avoid storing these files to prevent exposure. Ask your sources NOT to share documents with you through WhatsApp or SMS. ICE and CBP might seize phones and search them under the pretext of national security without a warrant and have access to your conversations. Reconsider the use of electronic surveys for engagement initiatives or ensure they are entirely anonymous.
Take journalists’ immigration status into account when making assignments
Although most authorities respect media outlets covering raids or other procedures, remember that your staff can be detained. Newsrooms should prioritize sending US citizens to cover high-risk situations. Staff who are permanent residents (green card holders), DACA recipients, or on temporary visas (H1B) could be detained and face immigration proceedings.
Train staff on their legal rights and secure legal counsel
Ensure reporters know their rights when dealing with immigration authorities, including their right to remain silent and to refuse to provide information without a court order. Share resources on Reporter’s Privilege, Shield Laws, and Confidential Sources. More than 30 state legislatures have enacted shield laws to protect reporters from producing confidential information, and as of 2018, 49 states and the District of Columbia have enacted some shield laws. Ensure the newsroom has access to immigration attorneys who can advise on risk management and legal issues. Know that the Committee to Protect Journalists provides short-term, emergency support to working journalists and media workers following an incident related to their work. Click here to learn how to get help.
3. Editorial tone
Avoid sensationalism and don’t make assumptions
Humanize immigration stories. Avoid language that criminalizes individuals without legal status. Remember that the immigration process is an administrative process, not a criminal one. Avoid assumptions about the immigration status of children. Many may be U.S. citizens.
Educate the audience
Include explanatory elements in coverage to combat misinformation and harmful narratives about immigrants. Many Americans are unfamiliar with immigration procedures and what can be done. Remember that more people are here without documents because of visa overstays rather than illegal border crossings.
Interview the right sources
When searching for lawyers as part of your engagement initiatives or coverage, ensure they have significant experience working on immigration in the field. Avoid interviewing or inviting corporate immigration or criminal lawyers about border issues as they might have a different experience from those dealing with deportation and adjustment of status cases.
Need more resources? Check out these guides on covering immigration under the new administration, produced by the Poynter Institute. Have questions about language and immigration? Check NPR’s latest guidance.