SIGN NOW: End the harassment and surveillance of journalists at our southern border.
Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Chair and Jim Jordan (R-OH), Ranking Member, House Oversight Committee and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Chair and Chip Roy (R-TX), Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
The Trump administration’s targeting of journalists has reached a new level. Recent reports from the U.S.-Mexico border and leaked documents from a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower indicate that U.S. government agencies have been tracking and monitoring over 50 individuals, mostly journalists and immigration advocates, as they report on the humanitarian situation at our southern border.
Several U.S. government entities, including Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Border Patrol, have reportedly participated in the monitoring of journalists, including the creation of a U.S. government database tracking these individuals.
Mexican government officials have also been accused of photographing the passports of journalists on the ground at the border, and detaining journalists at airports ― reportedly on behalf of and in coordination with the U.S. government.
The existence of a government database monitoring legal comings and goings of journalists is a shocking and unwarranted violation of their First Amendment rights. The conclusive reporting that this database actually exists, and that the government justifies its monitoring of these advocates as routine, is a shameful violation of press freedom and a threat to our most basic constitutional rights.
Sign the petition demanding that Congress act immediately to hold the Trump administration accountable for these violations of freedom of the press at our southern border. Sign the petition today >>>
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To:
Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Chair and Jim Jordan (R-OH), Ranking Member, House Oversight Committee and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Chair and Chip Roy (R-TX), Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
From:
[Your Name]
In violation of our Constitution, federal agencies are monitoring law-abiding journalists covering immigration issues along our southern border. Journalists have been subject to interrogation and had their notes and electronic devices searched. This is a blatant violation of the press freedoms enshrined in our First Amendment and long recognized as vital for public accountability.
The House Oversight Committee and Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties must hold immediate hearings to gather the facts about what appears to be a blatant violation of press freedom. We demand immediate action to defend the rights of journalists at the southern border. The Congress must hold the Trump administration accountable for these unconstitutional actions to suppress press freedom -- which is the principal way that we learn what our government is doing.