One of the photojournalists suing the federal government after they were interrogated and secretly surveilled for their border coverage said that a U.S. officer in plainclothes badgered him in a windowless room for an hour, demanding he reveal if he “knew smugglers, activists, or journalists who assisted migrants in crossing the border,” and at one point spewing, “I know you’ve been around the migrant caravan.”
Bing Guan is among the five journalists who, with the help of a number of civil rights groups, has sued the Department of Homeland Security for violating their First Amendment rights. The journalists were harassed when attempting to return to the U.S. from Mexico, after reporting on the so-called migrant caravan endlessly demonized by Donald Trump last year. The lawsuit states that, like Trump, border officials were obsessed with this so-called caravan, asking Guan “whether he knew any ‘coyotes’ or activists who were pro-migrant or anti-migrant.”
He said he felt forced to disclose his work to the officer, “who asked to see the photographs that Mr. Guan had taken while covering the border. Mr. Guan, feeling he had no choice and was not at liberty to leave, said he would show the officer the photographs.” Only after the officer had taken photos of Guan’s work using his cell phone was he allowed to leave the interrogation and reenter the U.S. Guan was also surveilled in a secret database, which contained a photo featuring an X over his face, indicating he’d been interrogated.
Ariana Drehsler’s photo also featured an X over her face. She said that when her questioning was over and she asked if she should expect this again in the future, “one of the officers responded that she should.” Because why would border officials feel the need not to when the president of the United States has accused the free press of being “enemy of the people”? And, sure enough, Drehsler was stopped again just a few days later.
“The government’s disturbing actions also risk deterring other journalists from performing their vital function, which enables us to hold our government accountable,” the national American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups suing on behalf of the journalists, said. “The public needs to know what is happening at the southern border, including about how the government treats asylum seekers. A free and independent press plays a crucial role in documenting these conditions and informing the public.”