“Customs and Border Protection has compiled a list of 59 mostly American reporters, attorneys and activists for border agents to stop for questioning when crossing the U.S-Mexican border at San Diego-area checkpoints, and agents have questioned or
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arrested at least 21 of them,” NBC News reported Wednesday. Read story here.
The Border Patrol claims it’s conducting a “national security investigation” that appears related to migrant caravans Trump has demonized.
A list dated Jan. 9, 2019, contains names and photos of 59 individuals who are to be stopped at border crossings. Lists of this sort, which targets individuals for detention or other adverse actions even if they’ve done nothing wrong, are typically called “blacklists.”
The Border Patrol also has compiled intelligence dossiers on these individuals. One lawyer said her dossier included “personal details such as her mother’s name, her social media pictures, the car she drives and her work and travel history,” according to NBC News.
“The document … appears to prove what we have assumed for some time, which is that we are on a law enforcement list designed to retaliate against human rights defenders who work with asylum seekers and who are critical of CBP practices that violate the rights of asylum seekers,” she said.
NBC News said, “The documents confirm what many people who report on immigration or provide humanitarian aid and legal counsel to asylum seekers at the southern border have reported anecdotally. They say that CBP is focused on them and increasingly pulling them aside for what is known as a ‘secondary screening.’ During that screening, journalists and lawyers describe being told … they must give officers access to their cell phones.”
A former senior DHS official called these practices “highly inappropriate and questionable from a legal perspective.” Border Patrol agents must have reasonable suspicion that a person has committed an immigration violation or federal crime in order to detain him or her, and probable cause in order to search their baggage or vehicle, according to the ACLU.
Photo: The Border Patrol dislikes pictures like this, and blacklisted the journalist who took it.