Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Biden imposing severe restrictions on news outlets covering border crisis


 

The ability of news outlets, including The Post, to document the crisis at the US-Mexico border has been severely restricted in recent weeks, despite repeated assurances from the White House that President Biden is committed to “transparency.”

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants — including thousands of unaccompanied children — have flocked to the crossing since Biden took office and repealed former President Donald Trump’s more stringent immigration policies, creating troubling humanitarian and security concerns.

But journalists traveling to cover the chaos have encountered levels of restrictions not seen under prior presidential administrations, Republican or Democratic.

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During a ride-along last week with Texas’ Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, a Post reporter witnessed Border Patrol agents investigate a home thought to be used as a stash house for stolen cars and migrants secreted over the border.

The agents explicitly told The Post not to take photographs of them.

Deputies from the Hidalgo County Constable’s Office later explained that the camera-shy policy was handed down just last month, and that taking photos and videos of Border Patrol operations had not previously been seen as a problem.

“It’s just orders they have also, because I guess they don’t want to admit it’s a crisis going on,” speculated one deputy.

When a Post reporter attempted to visit a detention facility in Donna, Tex. on Saturday — using a walkaway that was not marked with any clearly visible signs stating that the area was off-limits — a security guard rode up on a golf cart and ordered the journalist to leave.

When the reporter then walked onto an adjacent property — also not marked with any clearly-visible signs — where another facility is under construction, the same security guard threatened to call law-enforcement unless the journalist left.

The ability of news outlets, including The Post, to document the crisis at the US-Mexico border has been severely restricted in recent weeks, despite repeated assurances from the White House that President Biden is committed to “transparency.”

Tens of thousands of Central American migrants — including thousands of unaccompanied children — have flocked to the crossing since Biden took office and repealed former President Donald Trump’s more stringent immigration policies, creating troubling humanitarian and security concerns.

But journalists traveling to cover the chaos have encountered levels of restrictions not seen under prior presidential administrations, Republican or Democratic.

During a ride-along last week with Texas’ Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, a Post reporter witnessed Border Patrol agents investigate a home thought to be used as a stash house for stolen cars and migrants secreted over the border.

The agents explicitly told The Post not to take photographs of them.

Deputies from the Hidalgo County Constable’s Office later explained that the camera-shy policy was handed down just last month, and that taking photos and videos of Border Patrol operations had not previously been seen as a problem.

“It’s just orders they have also, because I guess they don’t want to admit it’s a crisis going on,” speculated one deputy.

When a Post reporter attempted to visit a detention facility in Donna, Tex. on Saturday — using a walkaway that was not marked with any clearly visible signs stating that the area was off-limits — a security guard rode up on a golf cart and ordered the journalist to leave.

When the reporter then walked ont an adjacent property — also not marked with any clearly-visible signs — where another facility is under construction, the same security guard threatened to call law-enforcement unless the journalist left.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLO BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES

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