The documents detail an intelligence-gathering effort by the United States and Mexican authorities, targeting more than 50 people including journalists, an attorney, and immigration advocates
By Tom Jones, Mari Payton and Bill Feather
March 10, 2019 "Information
Clearing House" -
Documents obtained by NBC 7 Investigates
show the U.S. government created a secret
database of activists, journalists, and
social media influencers tied to the migrant
caravan and in some cases, placed alerts on
their passports.
At the end of 2018, roughly 5,000 immigrants
from Central America made their way north
through Mexico to the United States southern
border. The story made international
headlines.
As the migrant caravan reached the San
Ysidro Port of Entry in south San Diego
County, so did journalists, attorneys, and
advocates who were there to work and witness
the events unfolding.
But in the months that followed, journalists
who covered the caravan, as well as those
who offered assistance to caravan members,
said they felt they had become targets of
intense inspections and scrutiny by border
officials.
One photojournalist said she was pulled into
secondary inspections three times and asked
questions about who she saw and photographed
in Tijuana shelters. Another photojournalist
said she spent 13 hours detained by Mexican
authorities when she tried to cross the
border into Mexico City. Eventually, she was
denied entry into Mexico and sent back to
the U.S.
These American photojournalists and
attorneys said they suspected the U.S.
government was monitoring them closely but
until now, they couldn’t prove it.
Now, documents leaked to NBC 7 Investigates
show their fears weren’t baseless. In fact,
their own government had listed their names
in a secret database of targets, where
agents collected information on them. Some
had alerts placed on their passports,
keeping at least two photojournalists and an
attorney from entering Mexico to work.
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