One unnamed U.S. Border Patrol agent who is reportedly "outraged" at the conduct of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents is now leaking sensitive details of secret operations that, according to one journalist, show how President Donald Trump's administration is targeting both immigrants and U.S. citizens.
In an article published to his Substack on Wednesday, independent journalist Ken Klippenstein published a 15-page document revealing details of 21 different "major" ICE operations across the country. The document is marked "LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE" and includes codenames of the various operations that have not previously been reported.
The document claims nearly 7,000 people have been apprehended by ICE since June, and that 2,000 "intelligence assets" in various U.S. cities are reportedly conducting surveillance "on immigrants and Americans alike," per Klippenstein's report. He further wrote that the document shows ICE has morphed "into a parallel FBI, a DEA and an independent police force whose mission has crept well past the deportations that media tend to focus on."
One initiative codenamed "Operation Benchwarmer" documents how ICE agents are on "plainclothes" detail to "gather important tactical intelligence" and amass "information not normally gained during formal interviews." Another dubbed "Operation Abracadabra" has a goal of linking "every individual who crosses the border illegally to a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a Transnational Criminal Organization and/or utilizing the intelligence to develop targets."
Klippenstein's source is reportedly motivated by a desire to shed light on ICE and other agencies under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with Klippenstein pointing out that ICE's use of force policy is "almost completely blacked out" in public documents. An anonymous FBI source also confided to Klippenstein that there is concern in the bureau that ICE is permanently tainting Americans' perception of the law enforcement community.
The new leaks come just days after a separate leak to Klippenstein in which federal agents upset over the Trump administration's handling of the killing of Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good leaked internal documents showing a last-minute push by administration officials to bolster ICE's numbers in Minnesota.
Click here to read Klippenstein's full report.
