first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2023-07-27 20:40:38.576966+00:00,2023-07-27 20:40:38.576966+00:00,At least 10 journalists tracked in government migrant caravan database,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/at-least-10-journalists-tracked-in-government-migrant-caravan-database/,2023-07-27 20:40:38.456976+00:00,,,,Chilling Statement,,,,"Ariana Drehsler (Freelance), Bing Guan (Independent), Go Nakamura (Freelance), Kitra Cahana (Freelance), Robert Wilson (Freelance)",,2023-03-24,False,San Diego,California (CA),32.71571,-117.16472,"
At least 10 journalists were tracked in a database authorized by the U.S. government as part of its surveillance around the migrant caravan in 2019, according to documents released in March 2023 in compliance with FOIA requests from San Diego TV station KNSD.
The NBC station first broke the story in March 2019 that Department of Homeland Security officials in San Diego had created the database as part of “Operation Secure Line” — the government’s code name for its response to the caravan. Agents compiled dossiers on at least 65 journalists, attorneys and humanitarian aid workers, and flagged them for additional questioning, searches and occasionally denials of entry at the border.
A Homeland Security Investigations agent, who later identified himself as Wesley Petonak, told KNSD he was alarmed when he came across a PowerPoint containing details from the database and so leaked screenshots.
“It seemed these people's rights were being infringed on,” Petonak said.
The TV station, together with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, or RCFP, filed FOIA requests seeking documents from Operation Secure Line, then sued in April 2019 when the government refused to produce the documents. In March 2023, the government began releasing the files. More than 4,800 pages have been released as of July 2023, according to reporter Tom Jones, who has led the reporting on Operation Secure Line, first at KNSD and now at WMAQ-TV in Chicago.
According to the documents, officers surveilled journalists, social media influencers, attorneys, aid workers and immigration advocates whom officials suspected were connected to a caravan of more than 9,000 Central American migrants seeking asylum in late 2018 and early 2019. The title of the PowerPoint leaked to the station identified those included as “Suspected Organizers, Coordinators, Instigators, and Media.”
Five of the 10 journalists indicated in the documents released so far were named — photojournalists Kitra Cahana, Ariana Drehsler, Bing Guan, Go Nakamura and Robert Wilson. Five remain unnamed, as the TV station censored the names and images of any individuals who did not provide permission to publish their information.
Cahana, Drehsler, Guan and Nakamura were each stopped at least once for additional questioning when crossing the border and asked about their work covering the Central American migrant caravan’s arrival in Mexico. Several had their equipment searched.
All four photojournalists, along with photographer Mark Abramson, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in November 2019 against the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, and its agencies U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The suit is ongoing as of July 2023, with discovery underway.
Wilson confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in July 2023 that he, on the other hand, had not been stopped for secondary screening while covering the migrant caravan. He said it may be in part because he was extremely cautious.
“The whole time I was [in Mexico] I kind of assumed I was going to be on a list, so I tried to really minimize my crossings,” Wilson said. “I only went across the border twice, and I waited for the heaviest traffic times and went across on foot.”
Following the initial revelations about the operation, DHS agreed to conduct an internal investigation, according to the station. The Office of the Inspector General for DHS announced it would conduct its own independent investigation.
While the OIG conceded in its final report that some of the “lookouts” placed on U.S. journalists, attorneys and others did not fully comply with U.S. Customs and Border Protection policy, it held that agents had legitimate reasons for flagging the individuals.
“Although we determined CBP’s lookouts on a number of journalists present at an illegal border crossing were unnecessary, we found no evidence that CBP placed these lookouts to harass the journalists,” the report said.
RCFP attorney Katie Townsend told KNSD she believes there is still more to learn about the surveillance effort.
“While the release of these records is a victory for transparency, the litigation is ongoing, and we anticipate that additional information will come to light,” Townsend said. RCFP is a member of the Tracker advisory board.
Jones told the Tracker that as far as he knows, and based on the OIG investigation, this was the only active surveillance effort that included journalists, attorneys and other American citizens.
“But the only reason we know about this surveillance effort is because records were leaked to us,” Jones said. “If it wasn’t for that leak, we would have never discovered this, so who’s to say there aren’t more efforts or lists like this out there?”
Operation Secure Line is not the only instance of CBP monitoring journalists: In 2021, reporters revealed that a secretive CBP division, known as the Counter Network Division, had been investigating as many as 20 journalists beginning in 2017.
According to a report by Yahoo News, CBP agents would run information and photos from passport applications through multiple government databases.
Also, in 2020, DHS compiled intelligence reports about the reporting and tweets of two journalists covering protests in Portland, Oregon, according to a Washington Post article. After the reports were made public, then-Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf ordered the office to cease all collection of information on journalists and announced an investigation into the reports.
A heavily redacted page confirms that journalists were among those surveilled as part of a government program. The pages were released to an NBC TV station in San Diego and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,migrant caravan,,, 2019-02-21 19:36:46.461277+00:00,2023-11-06 19:47:03.580768+00:00,"Photojournalist questioned at San Ysidro border, separated from camera",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border-separated-camera/,2023-11-06 19:47:03.442523+00:00,,,"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage","Border Stop, Equipment Search or Seizure",,camera: count of 1,,Ariana Drehsler (Freelance),,2019-01-04,False,San Diego,California (CA),32.71571,-117.16472,"On Jan. 4, 2019, freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler was stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border and subjected to secondary screening measures for the third time over the course of several weeks.
Drehsler had been covering the migrant caravan and seekers of asylum status in the United States. When she crossed over from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2018, she was stopped and told that her passport had been “flagged,” and she was again stopped for additional screening on Jan. 2.
“I was sent to secondary screening again,” she said of the Jan. 4 incident. While she was waiting to be questioned at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego, she said border agents chatted with her about her photography gear.
“One asked if I would show him my photos, but I declined, and he said something like, ‘Yeah, I kind of figured.’”
Unlike her two previous border stops, during which she was questioned by officials wearing civilian clothing, this time she was questioned by uniformed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
She was patted down, and then her belongings were searched in front of her, she said. “I didn’t have my laptop because I felt paranoid doing so at that point,” referring to the two previous border stops.
“They took me into a hall and they told me to leave my bag and phone there, and they took me to another room.”
Drehsler said she felt uncomfortable being separated from her belongings.
During questioning, she said she was asked about background as a journalist and her previous work-related travels to the Middle East as well as details about the migrant caravan.
“The agents that questioned me said, ‘You’re on the ground and we’re not,’ which is why they were asking me those questions. They wanted to know what I was seeing and hearing about the new caravan and organizers.”
Drehsler said that before December 2018 she did not have any problem entering the United States when reporting from Mexico.
CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.
A man holds an American flag at the Contra Viento y Marea shelter, a private warehouse converted into a shelter for migrants who traveled from Central America to near the US-Mexico border, in Tijuana, Mexico, on Jan. 4, 2019.
",None,None,None,None,False,1:19-cv-06570,['ONGOING'],Civil,returned in full,False,None,San Ysidro Port of Entry,U.S. citizen,False,False,yes,yes,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,migrant caravan,United States,, 2019-02-21 18:50:06.678337+00:00,2023-11-06 19:47:20.207092+00:00,Photojournalist questioned at U.S.-Mexico border for second time,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-us-mexico-border-second-time/,2023-11-06 19:47:20.113165+00:00,,,"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage",Border Stop,,,,Ariana Drehsler (Freelance),,2019-01-02,False,San Diego,California (CA),32.71571,-117.16472,"Freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler was stopped for a secondary screening and questioned while entering the United States from Mexico on Jan. 2, 2019.
Drehsler arrived around 11 p.m. on Jan. 2 at San Diego’s San Ysidro port of entry from Mexico, where she had been documenting the caravan of Central American immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. for wire service United Press International.
Similar to a border stop at the same port of entry just days before, she was stopped and questioned by three officials wearing civilian clothes.
“They were the same two people from the first time, as well as another,” Drehsler said. “They said, ‘Oh, we brought a new person,’ and they were like, ‘We mentioned you to this other guy.’” She said the officials made a point to say she would not have to wait as long as last time.
“Before they started asking me questions, I said I was not in Tijuana on New Year’s Day, because I had a feeling this would happen,” she said, referring to an incident the day before, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents had fired at migrants attempting to climb a wall to enter into the U.S.
Drehsler said that one of the officials replied, “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
In an attempt to shift the conversation away from the journalists covering the migrant caravan, Drehsler said she brought up the presence of activists, such as those present in Tijuana from Seattle.
“[Border officials] mentioned the new caravan, and asked if the people in the new one understand how hard it is for people to seek asylum at the border. I said I had no idea. They asked about the organizers and activists and said their presence has dropped off. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t know.”
Just before leaving the secondary screening and entering the U.S., Drehsler said the border agents asked her whether she rented or owned her home.
Drehsler told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was confused about the relevance of the question. “[The agent] said she just wanted to know for yourself,” she said. “I said I rented.”
Like her previous border stop on Dec. 30, 2018, none of her belongings, notes, or devices were searched. A few days after this incident, Drehsler would be stopped a third time.
“I didn’t have anything to hide, but I still felt weird answering their questions,” she said. “I felt like an informant.”
CBP did not immediately respond to request for comment.
In early December 2018, El Barretal shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, housed more than 3,000 migrants from Central America.
",None,None,None,None,False,1:19-cv-06570,['ONGOING'],Civil,None,False,None,San Ysidro Port of Entry,U.S. citizen,False,False,no,yes,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,migrant caravan,United States,, 2019-02-21 18:42:33.285879+00:00,2023-11-06 19:48:14.922474+00:00,Photojournalist questioned at San Ysidro border,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-questioned-san-ysidro-border/,2023-11-06 19:48:14.838453+00:00,,,"(2019-11-20 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage",Border Stop,,,,Ariana Drehsler (Freelance),,2018-12-30,False,San Diego,California (CA),32.71571,-117.16472,"While covering the migrant caravan in Mexico, freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler has been stopped for secondary screenings each time she has re-entered the United States since December 2018.
At around 12:15 a.m. on Dec. 30, 2018, Drehsler arrived at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego to cross back into the United States. She had been covering the migrant caravan for wire service United Press International. She would be stopped again on Jan. 2 and Jan. 4.
Drehsler said that the U.S. border agent who had her passport asked her a couple of questions before informing her that she would need to go to secondary screening.
“A man and a woman in civilian clothes came up to me and took me into another room. They asked me what I was doing in Tijuana, who I work for, what other outlets I’ve worked for, my editor’s phone number,” Drehsler said. “They also asked about my background as a photographer.”
She said that she was asked about what she knew about the caravan, people crossing the border illegally, and details about the shelters for migrants in Mexico.
“I didn’t hide anything, but I also didn’t give them information like the names of fellow journalists. And they also didn’t ask me for specific names.”
Drehsler told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the border officials informed her that her passport had been “flagged,” but they did not know why, and they indicated that she might want to budget more time for border crossings since she could be stopped again.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents did not search Drehsler’s notes, electronic devices, or baggage, and she was permitted to bring her phone into questioning. She left the port of entry and entered the United States around 1:25 a.m.
CBP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Unlike the U.S. side, where onlookers are supposed to keep a distance, those at Las Playas de Tijuana in Mexico are allowed to get close to the border wall that separates the two countries.
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