The long history of DHS fake press releases concerning "cartel bounties."
Do immigration enforcement agencies just make up intelligence? Yes.
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It should come as no surprise that ABC News is willing to publish unproven press releases from the Department of Homeland Security. They were the first media outlet to capitulate to Trump’s ridiculous lawsuits and pay him $16 million for referring to his civil conviction of sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll as “rape.” Whether this was a savvy business decision concerning a merger or not belies the reality that it set a precedent of ABC News licking the fascist boot.
The press release in question is this one released on October 14th where Secretary Noem claimed that Mexican cartels are offering bounties for the targeting of ICE agents and anyone working with them. In this release, DHS throws down a claim that “Antifa” is supporting the cartels and that there are tiered payments being made for various things from $2,000 for information on ICE agents to $50,000 for assassinations of high-ranking officials.
Never mind that they gave zero evidence for these accusations and that the organization known as “Antifa” does not actually exist and is simply slang for people who oppose fascism. The immigration enforcement agencies have a long history of creating fake press releases and intelligence documents and floating them to right-wing outlets claiming the cartel have unleashed bounties as shown below.
US Border Patrol Illegal Coverup TeamsHow Border Patrol and Ali Bradley of News Nation work together to coverup crimes by agents.Jenn Budd·Jun 5
At the end of last year, video of a Border Patrol agent intentionally running over a man surfaced. As I have documented in the US Border Patrol…
And let us not forget how in 2005, the US Border Patrol admitted in court documents and DHS interviews that fake press releases and lying on government documents was part of their training, but that they could not show the manuals to prove the agents’ lies were common training because those manuals were “law enforcement sensitive.” Fake press releases were also created for this case in which agents lied to their supervisors, DEA, ICE and CBP as well as on K-9 narcotics apprehension reports and claimed that lying on official government documents was “policy.”
Instead of floating these fake cartel threats through small no-nothing right-wing outlets willing to publish anything DHS and its agencies spew, ABC News has stepped up and demanded News Nation hold their beer. On the same day that DHS released the press release, ABC News anchor David Muir introduced this video piece on their primetime nightly news show by Pierre Thomas, Chief Justice Respondent which did not provide any evidence of or even verify these claims, but simply stated this was what DHS and Secretary Noem claimed was happening. ABC News then doubled down with a written piece by Luke Barr in which the opening line stated:
“There is credible intelligence that members of Mexican drug cartels have offered a ‘tiered’ bounty system for hits against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Two weeks ago, the Justice Department charged a member of the Chicago-based Latin Kings with putting a bounty on Greg Bovino, the CBP Commander overseeing the surge operations in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland.”
You read that correctly, ABC News is using the first press release from DHS claiming Chief Greg Bovino had a bounty placed on his life of $10,000 as the evidence that the second press release on tiered bounties is somehow credible. When the first press release was issued, I and other experts stated there was no evidence of this bounty and that the price was extremely low for a high-ranking Border Patrol agent. Then out comes the second press release upping Bovino’s bounty to $50,000.
Just like Ali Bradley’s claims of cartel threats, there was no evidence save for a supposed memorandum that was not actually a memorandum but a screen shot of a flyer produced by Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector Intelligence Unit claiming there had been threats. No agents were targeted or shot at after News Nation made its claims. No San Diego Border Patrol official would speak of the threats nor confirm that her reporting was true. Like most things in the agency, the media moved on to the next story without ever addressing it.
Do immigration enforcement agencies just make up intelligence? Yes.
Just ask Pastor Kaji Dousa who sued the Border Patrol after agents accused her of performing weddings in Mexico with the intent to provide migrants with the means to commit marriage fraud in order to gain entry into the United States. It didn’t matter that she was performing marriage ceremonies in Tijuana, Mexico to couples who were both not US citizens. Border Patrol still claimed that a migrant had illegally crossed and gave them intelligence that she was committing these acts, and they decided to take away her Global Entry pass. She was then forced to take them to court for unlawful targeting.
In March of 2023, she won her case because internal emails sought during discovery showed that high-ranking CBP officials used the “intelligence” developed by Border Patrol to target her and others. San Diego CBP Branch Chief Saro Oliveri admitted in court that the “intelligence” was made up:
But you do not have to take my word for it, Mike Vigil, a former DEA official stated to the Latin Times that:
“…the statement is not true. It is absolutely absurd because neither ICE nor CBP are a threat to cartels, and if they took action against them they would be in trouble. It’s absurd that cartels are focusing on them because many agencies in the U.S., including the DEA, are only focused in migrants,” he added.
He is not wrong. ICE, Border Patrol and CBP are not focusing on narcotics seizures. In fact, Trump ordered federal agents to stop working on those cases and focus on kidnapping as many immigrants as they could find. The number of drug cases in the courts has dropped by 10% and is at its lowest in decades. With the border being covered by inexperienced military and many Border Patrol agents moved from the southern border to conduct ICE raids in the cities, it is easier than ever to cross narcotics illegally.
And if you think the cartel is angry about ICE and other agents mass deporting immigrants, you’d be wrong. For the cartel, this is another money maker. Most of those being arrested and deported right now have no criminal convictions. They have families, work and even businesses here in the US. Once deported, they will not stay but attempt to get back to their families any way possible. This creates more business for the cartel like most of our immigration policies do. We have already seen people who were deported crossing illegally again as far back as March of this year.
While the Border Patrol stopped counting “gotaways” once Trump took office, I can attest as a former agent that there are always gotaways. Always. I have noted Border Patrol checkpoints are down more than usual on the southern border, because they have sent so many agents into the cities to play ICE that they cannot fully staff them.
Even Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum stated that Mexican Intelligence has no idea what Noem and DHS are talking about. She stated that there is no cartel bounty out on US federal agents, and DHS has refused to respond to her requests for evidence and information of these allegations.
I grew up with ABC News every night. Watching them spread propaganda without the slightest bit of evidence is terrifying.