Kim Kyung Hoon
The Department of Homeland Security is paying undercover informants to gather intelligence from the migrant caravan by monitoring their text-message conversations as they travel toward the U.S. border, NBC News reported on Tuesday. The group of about 4,000 asylum-seeking migrants are reportedly using WhatsApp groups to communicate along the journey, and DHS personnel have reportedly joined those groups in an effort to gather intel.
“While not commenting on sources or methods, it would be malpractice for the United States to be ignorant about the migrants—including many criminals—attempting to enter our country,” DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said in a statement to NBC. “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.”