Conservative journalist James O'Keefe, known for his guerrilla journalism, says that he's been targeted by the Department of Homeland Security for his previous reports in which he tries to demonstrate how easy it is to cross the border.
O'Keefe told The Washington Post that it started in August 2014 after he released a video of himself dressed in green fatigues wearing an Osama bin Laden mask, crossing the U.S-Mexico border along the Rio Grande River, which he says he did "to show that our elected officials were lying to the American people," when they say that the southern border is secure.
O'Keefe also released another video in September, showing an actor dressed like an Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist, crossing the U.S-Canada border by way of Lake Erie, smuggling a bag filled with what he claimed was the Ebola virus he was bringing to unleash on the United States and ricin to poison the water of Cleveland residents.
The fake ISIS terrorist traveled about 45 miles on a boat from Ontario to Cleveland, where he disembarked and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, without being stopped once by Border Patrol.
The conservative journalist caught the attention of the Department of Homeland Security, which overseas the border, and since those videos were released a year ago, he says he's been stopped five times by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and questioned extensively whenever he has tried to re-enter the country.
O'Keefe responded by releasing an undercover video of the U.S. Customs officers interviewing him to demonstrate the alleged targeting by DHS.
The interviews with agents have been very intrusive, he says, with agents asking him about his business operations, his next investigative project and his political views. In one part of the video, they even ask him if he supports presidential candidate Donald Trump.
In a voiceover, he says that the border crossing videos "embarrassed U.S. Customs. Their revenge? Go after me."
In this latest video, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seem concerned that he's going to try to sneak something past them.
"I feel that the reason why they put that hit on you — They don't want you to pull a fast one on us," one agent says.
O'Keefe told The Washington Post that "It is our contention that this is retaliation for our journalism along the Mexican border." He says in the video that he had never been stopped by Customs before he released the border video in August.
"It’s troubling that they are doing this to a citizen reporter…. These questions have nothing to do with national security or border issues or smuggling narcotics into the country," he said.
"They are questions that they would never ask a Washington Post reporter, that they would never ask NBC News," he added.
Watch the video here.
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