Today from the Washington Stand--
ICE ‘Leakers’ Identified - Will Prosecutions Follow?
by S.A. McCarthy
February 26, 2025
Over the past month, several deportation raids have been compromised by unknown individuals within the federal government leaking details of the raids to the public. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem
confirmed Monday that those responsible for the leaks have been identified and will be fired. “I have found some leakers. We are continuing to get more,” Noem reported in an interview. She continued, “They will be fired. There will be consequences.”
The DHS secretary urged the public to remember that “when they leak information to the press in order to blow one up, they are putting law enforcement lives in jeopardy, they are risking their lives…” She explained that she and her staff have been investigating and interrogating all those who may have had access to the information leaked and have been using every “tool” and “every tactic that we have,” including conducting polygraph tests and combing through emails and electronic communications, to ensure that the “leakers” are found.
“It’s amazing how these bureaucrats who have an agenda to stop the work that we’re doing to bring safety to America, how they will sell each other down the river if it’s just to protect themselves,” Noem shared. She concluded, “So don’t worry, I am doing everything to find these leakers and to get rid of them so that we can do our work and our law enforcement officers and agents can do it safely.”
As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began
preparing for deportation operations last month, beginning the day after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, details of planned raids were leaked to the public. An ICE operation
planned in Chicago had to be postponed when the raid was announced in The Wall Street Journal. Border czar and former ICE chief
Tom Homan personally led deportation operations in Chicago the following week.
Another
ICE raid in Aurora, Colorado, just outside Denver, was intended to target at least 100 members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TDA). But details of the raid were leaked directly to the gang and, in the end, only one TDA member was arrested. Leaks to the press also jeopardized an
ICE raid in Los Angeles, the birthplace of the notoriously violent Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang. Both Noem and Homan suggested at the time that corrupt FBI officials may be responsible. Noem declared, “The FBI is so corrupt. We will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law.” Homan also confirmed that “some of the information we’re receiving tends to lead toward the FBI” as the source of the leak.
While Noem committed Monday to firing those responsible for the leaks, Homan and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi have previously said that criminal prosecutions may be in order. In the wake of the leaks, Homan reported that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has “opened up a criminal investigation, and they have promised that not only will this person lose their job and lose their pension, they will go to jail.” Bondi also committed to prosecuting those responsible, warning, “If you leaked it, we will find out who you are, and we will come after you.”
In comments to The Washington Stand, Lora Ries, Director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, said that “those who leaked details of ICE raids should be prosecuted.” She explained, “They are obstructing justice, which is a violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 1512(c)(2) and (k), and obstructing a federal proceeding in violation of 18 U.S.C. sections 2 and 1505.” Ries continued, “Leakers and doxers have not been punished the last several years so they view their obstruction as low risk, high reward. We need very public examples made of some to halt the behavior. Firing is not enough because they will be quickly rehired by leftist organizations.”
“They should be publicly arrested, prosecuted, fired, have their security clearance revoked, any federal retirement revoked, and be barred from future government employment and government grants and contracts,” Ries concluded.
Over the past month, several deportation raids have been compromised by unknown individuals within the federal government leaking details of the raids to the pu
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