A former Democratic National Committee reporter is facing backlash for allegedly leaking information about an impending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid just hours before it was set to occur.
Pablo Manriquez, who previously served as the DNC’s director of Latino and Hispanic outreach, disclosed over the weekend that ICE was preparing for a raid in northern Virginia. The revelation, highlighted by Fox & Friends hosts, sparked calls for Manriquez to face consequences for his actions.
“ICE RAIDS are planned for Monday & Tuesday in Northern Virginia, per multiple sources who tell us ICE has obtained between 75 and 100 judicial warrants,” Manriquez wrote on X Sunday afternoon. He replied to his original post with more helpful tips on how to evade capture by immigration authorities. “Judicial warrants mean ICE can go into your homes, so plan accordingly,” read another post. A third stated, “Remember that state police have been deputized to help ICE, so highways, etc, are unsafe.”
Thanks to Manriquez, “the migrant community is well aware of what ICE has got planned today,” said Fox News’ Steve Doocy. Co-host Lawrence Jones pointed out that the judicial warrants referenced by Manriquez indicated a judge had authorized the arrest of the targeted illegal immigrants. Despite this, Manriquez “was still okay with tipping them off.”
“It’s dangerous for our guys,” Doocy responded. The group questioned whether Manriquez had committed a crime by posting about the upcoming raid, but Doocy reminded his colleagues that the real criminal culprit was the leaker. “It’s whoever leaked it to him. It could be someone from the courts, it could be somebody from the federal government,” he said. Others maintained Manriquez has still opened himself up for investigation. “Just because you’re a reporter doesn’t matter,” Jones responded.
Some individuals responsible for leaking information about immigration enforcement operations have been identified and are facing termination, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. “I have found some leakers,” Noem said. “We are continuing to get more. They will be fired and there will be consequences.”
Noem stated that her agency employed “every tactic” to identify the leakers, including polygraph tests and a thorough review of communications such as emails. She emphasized that their actions endangered law enforcement personnel and compromised national security.
While Noem did not disclose the number of individuals involved or the specific agencies they worked for, she previously accused the FBI of leaking plans for large-scale immigration enforcement operations in the Los Angeles area earlier this month.
The Los Angeles Times published a report based on a leaked internal memo outlining plans for a “large-scale” ICE raid. In response, Noem pledged to take action against those responsible for the leak, accusing them of undermining federal immigration enforcement efforts, the Epoch Times reported on Friday.
“The FBI is so corrupt,” Noem wrote in a Feb. 9 post on social media platform X in response to the LA Times story. “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.” Not surprisingly, the FBI dismissed Noem’s claims. “Making unfounded allegations calling FBI agents corrupt is deeply irresponsible and has not been supported by any evidence to date,” the agency said in a statement.
