ICE’s Secret Programs to Spy on All of Us Exposed
The brutality Americans are witnessing from Immigration and Customs Enforcement is just the tip of the iceberg: The agency is reportedly running nearly two dozen secret operations to spy on all of us.
Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported Wednesday that he’d received a “sensitive” 15-page government document outlining 21 “major” ICE operations leaked by a concerned Border Patrol official. These operations, many of which had previously gone unreported, have resulted in 6,852 apprehensions since June, according to the document.
One document outlined a program called Operation Abracadabra, which is the process of interviewing 100 percent of detainees in order to identify follow-on targets, such as stash houses, in order to “target transnational criminal corporations.”
A leaked slide explained Operation Abracadabra’s purpose as “tying every individual who crosses the border illegally to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a Transnational Criminal Organization, and/or utilizing the intelligence to develop targets.”
Another program was Operation Benchwarmer, a plan to use plainclothes agents “embedded in transport vans, sally ports, processing areas, and detention cells” to secretly spy on immigrants who have been detained. That operation already includes 2,000 “intelligence assets” across the country.
Another “secret” program Klippenstein mentioned was Operation Tidal Wave, a state-wide operation in Florida that led to the arrests of 1,120 people, only 63 percent of whom had a criminal record. Another, Operation Fleur De Lis, could potentially refer to an operation in Louisiana where the Department of Homeland Security deployed CBP agents in November. The goal of another operation, called “Dust Off,” was less clear.
President Trump once again appeared to doze off on camera during a milk legislation signing ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
The president’s eyes were completely shut at multiple points of the ceremony. He can be seen looking drowsily on as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins drones on about milk, while flanked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Housing Secretary Ben Carson.
This would mark at least the third time since December that Trump has seemed to doze off during a televised event, although it may have been his first on-camera nap of the new year.
uh oh -- Trump's eyes are closed pic.twitter.com/6pQaQhNB6H
After he woke up, Trump signed legislation allowing public schools to serve whole and 2 percent milk, reversing an Obama-era policy that limited schools to fat-free or low-fat options.
He then went on to clarify how to spell “whole milk.” “It’s actually a legal definition—‘whole milk.’ And it’s whole with a w, for those of you that have a problem.”
Need any more proof that CBS News is being transformed into a mouthpiece for Donald Trump’s administration? Look no further than its latest “story” about Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good, an American citizen and mother of three.
CBS News posted on X Wednesday morning that Ross had “suffered internal bleeding to the torso” after shooting Good in her vehicle, citing “two U.S. officials briefed on his medical condition.”
The post, which supported the Trump administration’s dubious claims that Ross fired “defensive shots” because his life was in danger, was not accompanied by a link to an actual story.
This claim boosted by CBS News did, however, directly contradict video analysis that suggested Ross was not in the path of the vehicle when he fired the three shots. Rather, Ross braced his hand on the hood of Good’s vehicle while it moved forward and shot her three times as she turned her car away from him and other ICE agents. In additional footage from after the incident, Ross walked up and down the street, appearing unharmed.
Readers were furious that CBS News had boosted the government’s claim without appearing to have done any further reporting.
“No reporting. No story attached. No evidence. Just straightforward state propaganda,” wrote one user on X.
MeidasTouch’s Ron Filipkowski suggested that the story didn’t pass the smell check. “Who are the ‘two US officials’ and why would CBS give them anonymity when they are just putting something out there that DHS and ICE obviously wants put out,” he wrote on X. “Who are these ‘US officials’ and why are they granted anonymity???”
Another user pointed out that Ross would likely have been protected from injury by his Kevlar vest, while another claimed the vehicle would have only been moving four miles per hour maximum, which was not enough to cause internal bleeding. Other users © New Republic
