The Trump administration has secured the indictments of three women over allegations that they shared the home address of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. The news comes as allies of President Donald Trump seek to punish reporting on ICE’s controversial activities and the people carrying them out, and in the wake of Trump’s open threats to have the Justice Department attack liberals.
Border “czar” Tom Homan and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr have targeted those who have reported on the president’s immigration crackdown, including activists and lawmakers who teach people about their constitutionally protected civil rights and a California radio station that reported details about an ICE operation. Also noteworthy here is that Trump’s polling on his handling of immigration has fallen as Americans have watched his administration enact a mass incarceration and deportation agenda that has ensnared immigrants who have committed no crimes and even U.S. citizens. And amid all of this, the Trump administration and its allies have argued that ICE agents should be allowed to fully conceal their identities out of safety concerns.
That’s the backdrop for Friday’s announcement out of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California, in which federal prosecutors said that a grand jury had indicted three women who allegedly livestreamed their “pursuit” of an ICE agent in Los Angeles and then shared his home residence on social media. The women, two California residents and one from Colorado, each face one count of conspiracy and one count of publicly disclosing the personal information of a federal agent.
“The defendants livestreamed on their Instagram accounts their pursuit of the victim and provided directions as they followed the victim home, encouraging their viewers to share the livestream,” prosecutors said in the announcement, adding that the women “publicly disclosed on Instagram the victim’s home address and told viewers, ‘Come on down.’”
Prosecutors also say the defendants shouted things like “ICE lives on your street and you should know” to the agent’s neighbors — though it doesn’t say anything about them harming the agent in any way or trespassing on his property. The announcement quoted acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli as saying: Our brave federal agents put their lives on the line every day to keep our nation safe. The conduct of these defendants are deeply offensive to law enforcement officers and their families. If you threaten, dox, or harm in any manner one of our agents or employees, you will face prosecution and prison time. Earlier this year, Essayli — a Trump appointee — drew backlash after he sought to fully dismiss a case in which a Los Angeles police officer was found guilty of using excessive force against a Black woman. And now, this new indictment shows even more how his office — and the Trump administration more broadly — views the public’s ability to shine light on law enforcement officials or hold them accountable.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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