RCFP calls DHS actions against journalists disturbing, seeks meeting with federal officials

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is requesting a meeting with officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to discuss several incidents in which federal agents have arrested and used force against journalists. 

“The disturbing detentions, arrests, and physical attacks that we have seen in recent weeks targeting journalists covering the actions of federal law enforcement officers raise serious First Amendment concerns, especially at a time when there is intense public interest in how the government is applying our nation’s immigration laws,” Reporters Committee Vice President of Policy Gabe Rottman said in a statement. “We urge the Department of Homeland Security to take immediate steps to provide guidance for its agents in the field on the First Amendment and legal rights of journalists, and to adopt an arrest avoidance policy in line with best practices recognized by the Department of Justice.”

On Friday, the Reporters Committee sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem highlighting several troubling encounters between DHS officers and journalists in New York and Illinois. Last Saturday, federal agents arrested journalist Steve Held as he covered a protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in a suburb of Chicago. The next day, ICE personnel reportedly shot at a reporter’s vehicle with a pepper ball outside the same facility. And on Tuesday, an ICE agent in New York City threw a reporter out of an elevator in an immigration court building, leading to the serious injury of a journalist with a Turkish outlet who was standing in the hallway.

In addition to requesting a meeting with federal officials to discuss the incidents, the Reporters Committee’s letter urges DHS to provide guidance to its law enforcement officers on the newsgathering and First Amendment rights of journalists, including the right to record or document federal law enforcement operations in public.

The letter also asks DHS to adopt a department-wide policy of “arrest avoidance” for journalists — a practice that the U.S. Justice Department has recognized as an important safeguard for First Amendment rights.

Lastly, the letter raises concerns about DHS agents’ practice of wearing masks and plainclothes, noting that many of the most troubling interactions between agents and the press have involved officers who have concealed their identities.

“A general practice of masking makes it difficult for journalists to identify which individuals on a crowded scene are federal law enforcement officials,” the letter states.