DHS spokeswoman pushed NBC News to retract accurate story about terrorists at the border

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/dhs-spokeswoman-pushed-nbc-news-retract-accurate-story-about-terrorists-n1239702

WASHINGTON — A new whistleblower complaint alleges that in late 2018 and early 2019 former senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security sought to inflate the publicly reported number of known or suspected terrorists crossing the border, in a move to increase support for a border wall.

In early 2019, a DHS spokeswoman pushed NBC News to retract an article based on accurate figures the agency had disclosed in a document to Congress in the months prior that were far lower than the nearly 4,000 in a year the administration had been citing publicly.

The January 2019 NBC News article reported that, contrary to those public statements by Trump administration officials, only six immigrants who were known or suspected terrorists had been encountered at the southern border in the first half of fiscal year 2018.

At the time, administration officials were repeating the 4,000 figure in an effort to justify the government shutdown over Trump's border wall, and the lower, more accurate figure undercut their argument.

That 2019 NBC News article was based on non-publicized figures provided by Customs and Border Protection to Congress in May 2018.

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[Nevilledog]

1. Morning kick.