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Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

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Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#151

Post by thinkcontext »

wbg34 wrote: post #79

There was an incidence of violence at the border. The people in this database were present at the time. "CBP told our colleagues at NBC News that the names in the database are all people who were present during violence that broke out at the border in November. The agency also said journalists are being tracked so that the agency can learn more about what started that violence."

If they want information relevant to a crime they can ask for an interview, just like law enforcement in the interior. If they want to compel testimony they can get a subpoena or if they want to search a device they can get a warrant. The fact that they are at the border allows them to circumvent these usual checks on law enforcement.

Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#152

Post by alistairSH »

sehugg wrote: post #8

Not only tracking them, but putting flags on their passports and interrogating them at the border: “They asked about the new caravan and if word had gotten out about how difficult it is to seek asylum in the U.S.,” Drehsler said. “Then before I left, the female agent asked if I rented or owned my home.” This sounds much more like a political intimidation operation than serving a national security purpose.

Similar story involved ICE, different location, not explicitly linked to border crossings...

https://www.thenation.com/article/ice-immigration-protest-sp...

Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#153

Post by Areading314 »

nerdponx wrote: post #130
Areading314 wrote: post #125

This is terrible, but the headline is exaggerating: this only affects 50 people relating to a specific issue, not all journalists in the US.

No it's not. The headline never says "all", you added that. The fact that the number is greater than 0 is a problem.

I disagree, CBP targeting people who frequently cross the border for extra scrutiny, some of whom happen to be journalists, is a far cry from "the US" tracking "journalists" in general. It is an alarmist headline

Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#154

Post by calvinbhai »

dragonwriter wrote: post #146
calvinbhai wrote: post #142

Based on what I see, it looks like the US Govt is keeping tabs on those persons (journalists) who are sympathetic to the cause of of a group of people (the caravans) intending to breach the country border. How is this intimidation? Isn't this "Keeping borders safe 101" ? (I'm a legal temp immigrant in the US, and I have a hard time understanding why some things are news in this country).

> Based on what I see, it looks like the US Govt is keeping tabs on those persons (journalists) who are sympathetic to the cause of of a group of people (the caravans) intending to breach the country border. The caravans are lawful asylum seekers that are only crossing at non recognized points because the administration has taken active and dubiously legal efforts to forcibly prevent them from reaching and applying f…

I'm a legal temp worker / visitor then. (I thought all LTWs were temp immigrants)

Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#156

Post by dragonwriter »

tropo wrote: post #150
dragonwriter wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Based on what I see, it looks like the US Govt is keeping tabs on those persons (journalists) who are sympathetic to the cause of of a group of people (the caravans) intending to breach the country border. The caravans are lawful asylum seekers that are only crossing at non recognized points because the administration has taken active and dubiously legal efforts to forcibly prevent them from reaching and applying f…

International treaties covering asylum seekers require that they apply for asylum in the first safe country. Mexico might not be the most wonderful place, but it is considered a safe country. (the government is not genocidal) It is therefore impossible for a legitimate asylum seeker in the US to have passed through Mexico.

> Mexico might not be the most wonderful place, but it is considered a safe country. (the government is not genocidal)

Even in the parts of the country superficially under control of the central government (the parts where the cartels don't openly operate marked patrol vehicles as if they were the government), the cartels operate with virtual impunity and frequently with active, high-level cooperation by the police and military (whole specialized units of which have gone over to the other side and become cartels), including the military at least cooperating in and covering up and possibly actually carrying out mass killings on behalf of the cartels.

And this isn't just violence unrelated to the violence Central American asylum seekers are fleeing; that violence they are fleeing is in no small part due to deportation of violent criminals, often in gangs of US origin connected to international organized crime including the Mexican cartels, deported from the US, who have then extended the criminal networks of the already internationally-connected, US-origin gangs across Central America.

The idea that Mexico is a safe country for those who have a reason to flee the violence in Central America is, well, not something that can be reconciled with the nature and source of the violence in Central America and the conditions in Mexico.

Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#157

Post by viivaux »

viivaux wrote: post #127
18pfsmt wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if that might have to do with foreign influence being involved with the protests? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/03/01...

Pretty ballsy of the WaPo to suggest such a thing, considering their utter lack of interest in the heinous acts carried out there at the time.

Silently downvote away, cowards: but the refusal of all mainstream media to cover the protest at the time, despite the spraying of water cannons at protestors in freezing conditions, the use of Stingray tech, and other super dodgy shit is a sold and undeniable fact.

Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#158

Post by calvinbhai »

tdb7893 wrote: post #145
calvinbhai wrote: post #142

Based on what I see, it looks like the US Govt is keeping tabs on those persons (journalists) who are sympathetic to the cause of of a group of people (the caravans) intending to breach the country border. How is this intimidation? Isn't this "Keeping borders safe 101" ? (I'm a legal temp immigrant in the US, and I have a hard time understanding why some things are news in this country).

Being sympathetic isn't a crime. Also covering things as a journalist not only isn't a crime but also is protected in many forms by the Constitution. Americans are very very very touchy about possible freedom of speech and freedom of the press violations. I'm not sure what crime these journalists are going to commit that makes us need to track them.

Curious:

So, if for some reason, there are journalists that are creating content for groups/regimes that are anti-America (lets say ISIS, Assad, Ahmedinajad or Jong Un), would that journalist never been seen with any kind of suspicion in the US?

Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#159

Post by krapp »

fredgrott wrote: post #112
wbg34 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quote from the official statement from the Customs and Border Patrol. It was also in the article. "CBP told our colleagues at NBC News that the names in the database are all people who were present during violence that broke out at the border in November. The agency also said journalists are being tracked so that the agency can learn more about what started that violence."

since when do we as a country track people over violence instead of say just oh doing an investigation of just asking wha5t happened? are we suddenly Communist China or Nazi Germany?

>are we suddenly Communist China or Nazi Germany?

Suddenly? No. This is the inevitable result of the normalization of authoritarianism, militarism and mass surveillance that began after 9/11.

I mean, we have a President who outright calls the press enemies of the people, and half the country agrees with him, and most of the rest just dismiss it as Trump being an angry crazy man. That's how far the Overton window has been pushed towards protofascism in the US.

Re: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Tracking Journalists Through a Secret Database

#160

Post by dragonwriter »

calvinbhai wrote: post #154
dragonwriter wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Based on what I see, it looks like the US Govt is keeping tabs on those persons (journalists) who are sympathetic to the cause of of a group of people (the caravans) intending to breach the country border. The caravans are lawful asylum seekers that are only crossing at non recognized points because the administration has taken active and dubiously legal efforts to forcibly prevent them from reaching and applying f…

I'm a legal temp worker / visitor then. (I thought all LTWs were temp immigrants)

> I'm a legal temp worker / visitor then. (I thought all LTWs were temp immigrants)

Some legal temp workers (e.g., H-1Bs) are not prohibited from having intent to immigrate when they acquire temp worker status (this is what the H-1B being a “dual-intent” visa means), but that's about it for overlap.

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