DCNF Reporter Discusses Government Request For Journalists To Process Migrants

DCNF Reporter Discusses Government Request For Journalists To Process Migrants

Harold Hutchison on July 21, 2022

A Daily Caller News Foundation reporter discussed a reported email sent to employees of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) that asked them to help process migrants at the southern border during a Newsmax appearance Thursday.

“This assignment wouldn’t be a law enforcement, assignment, they’d be helping with processing, and so that would include getting food and supplies for these migrants, helping with filing with that border patrol, and they would have access to the facilities where migrants were staying,” said DCNF investigative reporter Jennie Taer, saying it was not unusual for the federal government to ask among employees for volunteers at the border.

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“But this is new- that they’re asking USAGM and an employee tells me that he’s concerned about the potential for conflict of interest given they have journalists that cover the border,” Taer said about the taxpayer-funded agency that operates news outlets across the world. “Given they have journalists that cover the border and they actually wrote in March 2021 about HHS’s effort to get federal volunteers to help down there. USAGM assures me that they’re screening applicants for potential conflicts of interest.”

Taer noted that the Border Patrol was overwhelmed, with over 1,740,000 encounters so far in fiscal year 2022, according to statistics released by United States Customs and Border Protection.

“This is exactly a showcase of why the border is not secure,” Taer said. “You have many, many people crossing illegally. The numbers that you mentioned from last month put fiscal year 2022 already ahead of fiscal year 2021’s numbers and so were already set to surpass that we have – and it’s only getting worse, I’ve seen it down there myself.”

USAGM did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.