Trump Admin Launches Federal Investigation of Radio Station for Reporting on ICE Activities on Air

A San Francisco radio station is being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for coverage of immigration enforcement that some conservative critics are saying placed law enforcement officers "at serious risk."

While covering immigration enforcement actions taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San José last month, radio station KCBS opted to share details of where operations were taking place, including publishing live locations and descriptions of officers involved.

"We have sent a letter of inquiry, a formal investigation into that matter, and they have just a matter of days left to respond to that inquiry and explain how this could possibly be consistent with their public interest obligations," said Trump-appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr in an interview with Fox News.

Many proponents of the First Amendment have voiced concerns regarding the FCC's investigation and how it will restrict future coverage of the Trump administration's mass deportation efforts. David Loy, legal director for the First Amendment Coalition, discussed how such an investigation could deter other media outlets from covering the new administration's immigration enforcement actions.

"Law enforcement operations, immigration or otherwise, are matters of public interest," said Loy. "People generally have the right to report this on social media and in print and so on. So it's very troubling because it's possible the FCC is potentially being weaponized to crack down on reporting that the administration simply just doesn't like."

"It's an intimidating exercise. The process is the punishment," Loy continued. "Even if charges are never filed, people have to look over their shoulder to wonder, is the government going to come after me because I report something that the government doesn't like me to say?"

As of Thursday afternoon, KCBS has seemingly removed posts referring to its early reporting of the actions taken in San José from its website and profiles. Its social media posts and profiles have been flooded with messages and comments by right-wing users criticizing its coverage and calling for the station's broadcasting license to be revoked.

This is only the most recent incident of the FCC clashing with media organizations under the Trump administration. Last week, Carr stated that the FCC would target NPR and PBS with investigations into whether or not the organizations violated federal commercial rules by running certain sponsorship credits.

These investigations have been rebuked by the media organizations' leaders, who have reiterated that their outlets are allowed to run sponsorship credits which are considered separate from commercials.

"We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR's adherence to these rules," NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said in a public statement.