WASHINGTON — Two top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are urging the Trump administration to take action to protect journalists working for outlets affiliated with the government-funded U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, as the president pushes to shutter it. 

What You Need To Know

  • Two top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are urging the Trump administration to take action to protect journalists working for outlets affiliated with the government-funded U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, as the president pushes to shutter it
  • The Senate Foreign Relation’s Committee’s number one Democratic member, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, joined forces with Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland to write separate letters to President Donald Trump’s secretaries of state and homeland security
  • In the letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the senators warned that the end of grants to USAGM networks raises the risk that journalists for those outlets who have been jailed abroad will be “left behind"
  • Tthe letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem focused on immigration concerns that may arise should foreign-born employees of USAGM-affiliated networks be fired and thus potentially be forced to return to home countries without a free press, where the lawmakers argued they could face interrogation or jail

The Senate Foreign Relation’s Committee’s number one Democratic member, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, joined forces with Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland to write separate letters to President Donald Trump’s secretaries of state and homeland security. Van Hollen received significant attention last month for his trip to El Salvador to meet the man the administration initially admitted was wrongly deported to the country.

In the letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the senators warned that the end of grants to USAGM networks, such as the more than eight decades-old Voice of America as well as Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, raises the risk that journalists for those outlets who have been jailed abroad will be “left behind.” 

The pair added a handful of specific cases of journalists who are jailed in other countries, adding that in total, they are aware of five journalists affiliated with USAGM outlets who are currently behind bars in Vietnam, two in Russia, two in Myanmar, one in Belarus and one in Azerbaijan. 

They called on Rubio to present a plan to secure the release of the reporters. 

Meanwhile, the letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem focused on immigration concerns that may arise should foreign-born employees of USAGM-affiliated networks be fired and thus potentially be forced to return to home countries without a free press, where the lawmakers argued they could face interrogation or jail. 

“USAGM funded journalism has provided a lifeline to people living under authoritarianism, offering objective reporting and information on American thought and institutions,” Shaheen and Van Hollen wrote. “If journalists doing this vital work are sent back to Beijing, Tehran, Moscow, or other dictatorial environments, their safety and security will be gravely threatened.”

The senators also cited Afghanistan, Belarus, Cambodia, Kazakhstan and Vietnam as countries in which journalists would be particularly at risk, calling such a possibility a “gift to authoritarians.” 

The Democrats asked Noem to prioritize immigration applications of USAGM-affiliated employees and continue their visas should they be terminated for enough time for their status to be figured out. They requested a briefing on the department’s plan on the matter by June 6.    

Trump has moved to dismantle USAGM and its outlets and entities, signing an executive order in March that has been met with legal challenges currently playing out in courts.