Tipsheet

Are Media Outlets Undermining ICE Raids?

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  February 10, 2025 2:15 PM

News media organizations continue to report leaks about upcoming ICE raids, interrupting and disrupting various enforcement operations around the country.  Fox's Bill Melugin embedded with various agencies for a major push in Aurora, Colorado last week, but a pair of media reports prior to 'go' time allowed top Tren de Aragua gang members and leaders to slip away ahead of time.  Melugin described what happened during an interview on my radio show last week, explaining that not only did the gang members get a heads-up to clear out of town, pro-illegal immigration activists showed up at every stop of the operation to protest.  The secrecy of the whole plan was entirely blown:


In our interview, Melugin didn't disclose which news organizations reported about the Colorado raids ahead of time, but further investigation indicated that NBC News and CBS News were the culprits (he confirmed this, as well, as you'll see below).  There was also this instance:


The FCC is reportedly investigating the station for this breach, which was an unacceptable assist to criminals.  That said, media outlets enjoy sweeping protections from governmental retribution.  The First Amendment will be a shield in this case, I'd expect, even though the outcome is outrageous.  It's the leakers who need to be found and punished, as these are unacceptable developments.  Clearly, there is an operational security problem here, with critical (and, as mentioned in a post earlier today, popular) enforcement actions being undermined and sabotaged from within.  These ongoing leaks not only empower and help lawbreakers, they could also endanger the lives and safety of federal agents:

The leaks continue. The LA Times reports they’ve obtained a leaked government document which indicates there will be a “large scale” ICE enforcement operation in the LA area before the end of the month.This comes after the Aurora op was leaked, w/ CBS & NBC writing articles citing numerous U.S. officials that it was coming, forcing ICE to reschedule it to last week, and the op was a failure. And a large scale Chicago op was also leaked to the media during Trump’s first week in office, leading to a canceling and rescheduling of that op as well. It is extremely dangerous for ICE officers to have their plans leaked & for their targets to know they are coming. Somebody either does not want these operations to succeed, or is overzealous in sharing operational details that should be kept under wraps. An early issue for this new Trump admin to face.

Helping illegal immigrant criminals evade accountability and capture is bad enough; potentially assisting in an ambush against law enforcement is far worse.  This must stop.  It's also a scandal that various policies, especially 'sanctuary' laws, have protected violent and repeat offenders.  We've extensively covered one egregious example out of Chicago in recent days.  Here's another from the very same jurisdiction, with the madness finally (perhaps) ending thanks to a recently-enacted law:


Here's another one out of Massachusetts, which is effectively a sanctuary state:

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And as we've also pointed out, agitators on behalf of immigration lawlessness have become, well, increasingly lawless in response to the Trump administration's renewed focus on robust enforcement.  On it goes:


Meanwhile, as the feds work to arrest and deport illegal immigrants who are already present in the country, it looks like the dramatically different policies and posture are succeeding in deterring new arrivals:

President Donald Trump’s promised border crackdown appears to be influencing groups of migrants looking to enter the United States illegally. Internal Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) memos obtained by Fox News indicate that two groups of migrants recently ended their journeys to the U.S. and turned around to return to their home countries. On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Honduran officers encountered a group of 23 migrants previously headed for the United States. The individuals hailed from Honduras, Venezuela, Panama and El Salvador...According to the CBP memo, upon interviewing the migrants, officials learned that they had entered Mexico through the country’s border with Guatemala. However, they decided to turn around after "learning about the multi-agency force security on the Southwest Border in social media and through family members in the United States."

On the subject of deterrence, I'll leave you with this: