"It has a real chilling effect on people who might go down there. I was going to go this week, but I had to worry about whether I could get back in."
Other immigration lawyers claim they have even been questioned in locations far from San Diego.
One was accused of being a human trafficker and was released only after data and contacts contained on her phone confirmed otherwise.
Hugh Handeyside, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Security Project, told The Intercept:
"The government can't use the border to prevent journalists from gathering information, especially on issues it would rather they not report on. If CBP is interfering with or retaliating against journalists, that raises serious constitutional questions and bears further investigation."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) agrees, and is investigating the matter.
He reported to The Intercept:
"These are extremely disturbing reports. It would be an outrageous abuse of power for the Trump administration and CBP to target people for searches based on their political beliefs or because they are journalists. CBP needs to explain exactly what happened in these cases, and whether this was an aberration, or a coordinated effort to punish political opponents."
This is not the first time journalists were harassed under the current administration.
In November 2017, a trial began for six defendants falsely accused of rioting during Donald Trump's inauguration, facing up to 70 years in prison had they been convicted.
After nearly a month, they were acquitted of all charges.
2018 was an historic year in which 53 journalists were killed throughout the world.
According to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ):
"The number of journalists targeted for murder in reprisal for their reporting nearly doubled in 2018 from a year earlier, driving up the overall count of journalists killed on the job. Afghanistan, where extremists have stepped up deliberate attacks on journalists, was the deadliest country and accounted for much of the increase."
From January 1 to Dec. 14, 2018, 34 journalists were killed in retaliation for their articles and investigative reporting, nearly double those killed for the same reason last year. Nearly two-thirds were killed for covering politics.
Referring to the brutal death and dismemberment of Saudi journalist and American resident Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, and Donald Trump's defense of Saudi Arabia, the CPJ reports:
"Essentially, Trump signaled that countries that do enough business with the United States are free to murder journalists without consequence."
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