The Trump administration has paid informants embedded within a caravan of Central American migrants who are leaking information about the group’s movements and other details to Homeland Security officials, according to a report published Tuesday afternoon.
An NBC report did not specify how many informants the department had inside the moving group, whether they were migrants or U.S. officials, and how much they are being compensated. U.S. officials on Monday estimated that up to 10,500 people were traveling to the U.S. in a handful of different cararvans.
The government has been reading messages migrants are sending through messaging app WhatsApp to learn where they are headed.
DHS and CBP officials did not respond to requests for comment about the report.
On Monday morning, U.S. Customs and Border Protection shut down all northbound vehicular traffic traveling from Tijuana into San Diego, Calif., through the San Ysidro port of entry. DHS said the decision to halt all incoming traffic from Mexico into San Diego, Calif., at the nation’s largest border crossing overnight was based on reports some migrants from Central America planned to storm through one of its ports.
DHS officials on a call with reporters Monday afternoon did not disclose additional ways it may have attained the information.
DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said the department has the responsibility of looking into incidents like the caravan.
“While not commenting on sources or methods, it would be It would be malpractice for the United States to be ignorant about the migrants — including many criminals — attempting to entry our country. We have an obligation to ensure we know who is crossing our borders to protect against threats to the Homeland and any indication to the contrary is misinformed,” Waldman told NBC.
