DHS Exposed: Leftwing Groups Were Never Free
The United States Department of Homeland Security ran a covert surveillance operation against leftwing activist groups and protesters opposing the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, according to newly disclosed records reported by The Guardian.
The United States Department of Homeland Security ran a covert surveillance operation against leftwing activist groups and protesters opposing the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, according to newly disclosed records reported by The Guardian.
Undercover DHS agents attended private meetings and infiltrated encrypted chat groups belonging to organisations that had publicly mobilised against ICE operations. The records suggest the programme was broad, systematic, and deliberately targeted at legal protest activity rather than credible security threats.
The disclosure lands at a moment when the administration's domestic enforcement posture is already under judicial scrutiny. A federal judge had previously blocked Trump's demand to close the Kennedy Center for renovations — a decision the board, stacked with presidential appointees, moved to override by voting again to proceed with a two-year closure and restore the president's name to the building, per BBC News.
Two separate institutions, two separate votes — both pointing in the same direction.
The surveillance story is the one that matters more. Infiltrating lawful political opposition is not a new American instinct, but it has not been done this openly, or this documented, in decades. The records name the groups. They describe the methods. They suggest scale.
What happens when a government stops watching its borders and starts watching its own citizens instead is a question democracies usually answer too late.
This one has the receipts already.
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*Ryan C — Real Estate & Urban Life Correspondent, News Beast by FreeMalta.com*