There would be any number of moral and legal problems with transferring individuals from U.S. custody to a foreign prison notorious for abuse, in potential violation of a judge’s order, and under the questionable justification of a rarely used 200-plus-year-old statute that has previously been invoked only during a war declared by Congress — even if those individuals had all been convicted of serious crimes in U.S. courts.

But adding to the dystopian nature of the Trump administration’s policy is that family members and lawyers for several of the people deported to the foreign hell-prison without due process say they have no criminal history or links to any gang — and the administration’s lawyers have claimed in court that they are unable to recover an immigrant who was in the U.S. legally and was, by their own admission, sent to the prison due to “administrative error."

If the Trump administration can do this to a legal resident, it can, through malice or incompetence, do it to anyone.

But to watch Fox in the Trump era is not to wonder whether its personalities will defend the latest atrocities from the administration — it's merely an exercise in finding out how they will do it.

Fox excuse 1: Critics sympathise with “illegal alien gangbangers”

After lone Democratic co-host Jessica Tarlov highlighted the “numerous cases confirmed of people in that mega prison who should not be” on Friday’s edition of The Five, her co-panelists attacked her for sympathizing with criminals.

“Jessica, you're showing more sympathy to these illegal alien gangbangers than you showed to American citizens when you mistakenly let 10 million people in,” Jesse Watters replied.

“Maybe you should have the pictures of the victims of these people,” said Jeanine Pirro. “And it's real deterrence, so the American people and you can see it."

“There are people who will always argue on behalf of the criminal element, but they will be the first to cross the street if they see them come their way,” Greg Gutfeld added. “If one of these liberals were ever to run into these thugs, they would have a literal bleeding heart."

Fox excuse 2: These reports are “false sob stories” impugning “great law enforcement”

Fox anchor Harris Faulker asked Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin to respond to “critics [who] are saying that innocent people are being swept up in the illegal gang member deportation operations,” during a Monday interview.

McLaughlin responded that the administration has “very intense scrutiny and intelligence assessments for these members of Tren de Aragua that we send to El Salvador and to other prisons,” and complained that “the mainstream media is absolutely doing the bidding of these vicious gang members that they are sharing false sob stories."

“Of course you will be careful who you scoop up and who you don't scoop up right away,” Faulkner agreed. “It is old-fashioned great law enforcement that’s being carried out."

“You mentioned false sob stories and other actions by some in the liberal media — and I guess by ‘some,’ I would need for somebody to show me an example of them not doing it at this point,” she added. “Is that kind of a distraction?"

Fox excuse 3: “It’s just a gay barber,” it is normal for people to be unjustly imprisoned

On Monday’s edition of The Five, Tarlov described the plight of one of the deportees who, while being beaten by guards during his entry to the prison, reportedly sobbed, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.” The individual may be Andry José Hernández Romero, a 31-year-old asylum-seeker with no removal order or criminal history who had been held in an immigration jail due to government concerns about his wrist tattoos of “a crown, with the words ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ inked next to them in English."

Tarlov’s co-hosts were not interested.

“You've been talking about this gay barber from El Salvador with some stupid tattoo for weeks,” Watters replied. “It's just a gay barber."

“Yeah, come on,” Gutfeld interjected. “He’s not into you."

Watters continued, “He's an innocent guy who got swept up in deportation and hopefully we get it figured out and straightened out, but a lot of people in this country, Jessica, get arrested for things that they didn't do, get falsely accused, falsely convicted. That doesn’t mean you just stop arresting people."

“I have nothing against the gay barber — gay barbers usually give the best haircuts,’ he added. “We should bring him back just for that."

Fox excuse 4: “Other networks” are “only focused on the one-offs”

Some on Fox are suggesting that the media is deliberately covering people erroneously sent to the Salvadoran prison to hurt Trump.

“I do find the coverage interesting, if you turn to the other networks, they are only focused on the one-offs, they’re not focused on the criminals, and they’re not focused on the victims of illegal immigration, the people that have been assaulted,” Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones said on Tuesday’s show.

“And you know why that is — that’s because border and immigration is Donald Trump's No. 1 issue and they don't want to talk about that,” replied co-host Steve Doocy.

Fox excuse 5: Due process takes too long

Another argument on Tuesday’s Fox & Friends claimed that deporting people to El Salvador without due process is necessary because the U.S. court system takes too long to work.

Comparing “using the Alien and Enemies Act” to seeking a court deportation order, Jones complained that “it is a long process before you get a final deportation order."

Jones continued, “This is why the administration is saying, ‘Do we wait until we are out of office where we have no control — you want us to wait four years before we start getting the gang members and criminals out?’"

“I mean, it just doesn't make any sense,” he added.