'Part of a Larger War': Whistleblower Exposes ICE Effort to Spy on Immigrants—and Americans

An "outraged" Border Patrol official has leaked files exposing numerous secret Trump administration efforts to spy on both migrants and American citizens, and to falsely portray every single person who enters the United States without authorization as a terrorist or drug trafficker, a US investigative journalist revealed Wednesday.

The disaffected Border Patrol official gave journalist Ken Klippenstein documents showing "the dizzying scope" of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. These range from previously undisclosed code names of secret ICE missions to an explanation that a key objective of a nationwide campaign called Operation Abracadabra is "tying every individual who crosses the border illegally to a foreign terrorist organization [or a] transnational criminal organization."

A document on another operation—code-named Benchwarmer—reveals that, in an effort aimeda at "collecting information not normally gained" during standard interrogations, “plainclothes agents have been embedded in transport vans, sally ports, processing areas, and detention cells to gather important tactical intelligence and or information."

Klippenstein wrote that opposition to ICE's actions "has spread throughout the Department of Homeland Security" in the wake of last week's killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE officer Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. Articles of impeachment filed Wednesday by Democratic members of Congress against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem note how she falsely accused Good of "domestic terrorism."

The discontent with ICE "is also affecting the Justice Department," said Klippenstein, who noted the resignation of half a dozen federal prosecutors "over pressure to investigate Renee Good’s widow," and that FBI officials are "increasingly split" over the White House's effort to link Good with extremists.

"The media is telling a certain story about ICE, giving the blow by blow on the most public horrors but never quite seeing the bigger picture that it’s part of a larger war," Klippenstein asserted. "As a military intelligence source told me, the ICE crackdown isn’t just about immigration; it’s about gathering intelligence in support of [President Donald] Trump’s war on cartels—as well as on antifa, on the radical left, those who are 'anti-American,' and anyone else they consider terrorists."

ICE has also come under fire during Trump's second administration for its surveillance of people who criticize the agency on social media, using facial recognition technology to identify US citizens without their consent, and other policies and practices.

Time's Philip Wang reported Wednesday on dissent among ICE's ranks over Good's killing and the Trump administration's response, which includes legally dubious claims of "absolute immunity" for Ross.

“I’m embarrassed,” one former ICE agent of over 25 years told Wang. “The majority of my colleagues feel the same way. It’s an insult to us... to see what they’re doing now.”

Insiders have pointed to the Trump administration's rush to hire and rapidly deploy more than 10,000 new ICE agents to carry out the president's plan for the "largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrants” in US history as a major cause for concern. Critics say that ICE's ramped-up recruitment—which includes $50,000 signing bonuses and the use of racist messaging to lure applicants—is producing inadequately trained ICE officers who, confident of their impunity, are terrorizing communities.

"When thousands of over-militarized immigration agents descend on American communities akin to an invading military force, it seeks to terrorize us, actively harms public safety, and raises the likelihood of violence," Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of the advocacy group America's Voice, said in a statement Wednesday.

"Meanwhile, the mass deportation agenda is diverting money, manpower, investigative attention, and resources away from real threats—like child exploitation, drug trafficking investigations, and... disaster preparedness funding—all for the purpose of becoming foot soldiers in Stephen Miller's anti-immigrant crusade," Cárdenas added, referring to the white nationalist White House deputy chief of staff.