Report: Government kept tabs on journalists, ‘instigators’

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A San Diego TV station says the U.S. government ran an operation to screen journalists, activists and others while investigating last year’s migrant caravan from Mexico.

KNSD-TV says documents leaked by a Homeland Security source show a January database listing at least 10 journalists — seven of them U.S. citizens — as warranting secondary screening at U.S. points of entry.

Also named were a U.S. attorney and 47 others, some labeled as organizers or “instigators.”

Some freelance journalists had alerts placed on their passports and one was denied entry to Mexico for reasons never explained.

A Customs and Border Protection statement notes that there was a violent confrontation between migrants and agents in San Diego last November and says it’s “protocol” to gather evidence to determine if the event was orchestrated. It doesn’t specifically mention journalists or activists.