Incident details
- Updated on
- Date of incident
- December 30, 2018
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Targets
- Ariana Drehsler (Freelance)
- Case number
- 1:19-cv-06570
- Case status
- Settled
- Type of case
- Civil
- Border point
- San Ysidro Port of Entry
- Target nationality
- US citizenship status of target
- U.S. citizen
- Denied entry?
- No
- Stopped previously?
- No
- Asked for device access?
- No
- Asked intrusive questions about work?
- Yes
Border Stop
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.
Journalists settle suit against DHS over border stops
A group of journalists who sued the government over border officers’ questioning of journalists about their work settled the suit on Jan. 26, 2026, in New York, New York, federal court, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Journalists Ariana Drehsler, Mark Abramson, Kitra Cahana, Bing Guan and Go Nakamura sued in November 2019 after a series of border stops in late 2018 and early 2019, during which all five were asked intrusive questions about their coverage of a Central American migrant caravan’s arrival in Mexico. Three had equipment searched by border officers.
The suit accused the government of violating the First Amendment and named the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as defendants. The complaint notes that pictures of all five journalists appear in a DHS compilation of journalists, activists and attorneys connected to the migrant caravan.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the plaintiffs along with law firm Covington & Burling, announced that the settlement required CBP to “issue guidance to certain CBP units regarding the First Amendment and Privacy Act protections that apply when questioning journalists at the border,” and to act “to ensure that the journalists’ past reporting at the U.S.-Mexico border should not serve as a basis for future border questioning.”
The settlement also includes “an amount for costs and attorneys’ fees.” ACLU attorney Esha Bhandari declined to provide additional information about the settlement terms.
“We are thankful to have secured redress for these journalists, to allow them to do their jobs reporting on the news free from unjustified government scrutiny,” Bhandari said.
Guan said: “It’s clear the government’s actions were meant to instill fear in journalists like me, to cow us into standing down from reporting what is happening on the ground. After being targeted for doing just that, I am grateful for what our lawsuit has achieved in defending the rights of journalists to report free from government officials’ scrutiny.”
Cahana said: “My biggest fear is that other journalists may have avoided important stories out of fear of being targeted themselves. Press freedom is not a partisan issue. Everyone should be alarmed when journalists are targeted.”
Photojournalist sues DHS, agencies after questioned about caravan coverage
Freelance photojournalist Ariana Drehsler and four other photojournalists filed a lawsuit against the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Nov. 20, 2019.
The plaintiffs were each questioned by CBP officers from November 2018 to January 2019 about their work covering the Central American migrant caravan’s arrival to Mexico. In March 2019, it was revealed that DHS officials in San Diego had created a database of journalists, activists and attorneys who were involved in some way with the migrant caravan. Drehsler and two of the other plaintiffs were listed in the database.
“This lawsuit challenges U.S. border officers’ questioning of journalists about their work documenting conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border,” the suit begins. “The border officers’ questioning aimed at uncovering Plaintiffs’ sources of information and their observations as journalists was unconstitutional.”
The suit seeks a ruling that such questioning violates the First Amendment and an injunction requiring the agencies to expunge any records or files about the photojournalists. The suit remains ongoing as of January 2022 and discovery is underway.
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.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
