Landmark Settlement Announced in Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Questioning of Journalists at the Border
The settlement comes after five journalists were unlawfully targeted for and questioned about their reporting near the U.S-Mexico border
NEW YORK 鈥 In a win for freedom of the press, the 红杏视频, the New York Civil Liberties Union, 红杏视频 of San Diego, and Covington & Burling LLP announced a settlement today in a federal lawsuit challenging the unlawful targeting and questioning of five photojournalists at the U.S.-Mexico border. The lawsuit, filed in November 2019 in federal court in the Eastern District of New York against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), claimed that border officials violated the journalists鈥 First Amendment rights. The journalists claimed that they were unconstitutionally targeted for secondary inspection, detention, and questioning by U.S. border officials on the basis of their reporting near the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018 and 2019. In March 2021, the district court denied the government鈥檚 motion to dismiss the case, holding that the plaintiffs had plausibly alleged that border officials violated their First Amendment rights. The case was settled in January 2026.
鈥淭he future of our democracy depends on the freedom of the press, now more than ever,鈥 said plaintiff Bing Guan. 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear the government鈥檚 actions were meant to instill fear in journalists like me, to cow us into standing down from reporting what is happening on the ground. After being targeted for doing just that, I am grateful for what our lawsuit has achieved in defending the rights of journalists to report free from government officials鈥 scrutiny.鈥
鈥淭his settlement confirms what we already knew: what happened to us was wrong,鈥 said plaintiff Kitra Cahana. 鈥淕overnment officials should never put journalists on secret lists, interfere with our ability to work and travel, or pressure us for information at border crossings. My biggest fear is that other journalists may have avoided important stories out of fear of being targeted themselves. Press freedom is not a partisan issue. Everyone should be alarmed when journalists are targeted.鈥
The plaintiffs, journalists Bing Guan, Go Nakamura, Mark Abramson, Kitra Cahana, and Ariana Drehsler, are all U.S. citizen professional photojournalists who 鈥 between November 2018 and January 2019 鈥 traveled to Mexico to document people traveling north from Central America by caravan to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Following their reporting on conditions at the border, these five photojournalists were detained and interrogated by U.S. border officers, who sought information about their sources and observations as journalists.
Shortly after, government database information leaked to NBC San Diego in March 2019 revealed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had engaged in wide-ranging intelligence collection targeting activists, lawyers, and journalists 鈥 including these five journalists.
鈥淭he First Amendment applies at the border to protect freedom of the press,鈥 said Esha Bhandari, director of the 红杏视频 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 鈥淲e are thankful to have secured redress for these journalists, to allow them to do their jobs reporting on the news free from unjustified government scrutiny.鈥
As part of the settlement, CBP must issue guidance to certain CBP units regarding the First Amendment and Privacy Act protections that apply when questioning journalists at the border. CBP must also take certain steps to ensure that the journalists鈥 past reporting at the U.S.-Mexico border should not serve as a basis for future border questioning. The settlement also includes an amount for costs and attorneys鈥 fees.