(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Biden administration has sent an explicit message to the media, blocking access to the location where a harrowing incident unfolded involving hundreds of illegal aliens forcefully pushing through a group of Texas National Guardsmen.
After a video of the alarming scene went viral on Thursday, the Biden administration moved swiftly on Friday to close off access to the border section where the incident occurred, as reported by a New York Post journalist who filmed the event. Biden’s message to reporters was clear: Nothing to see here, folks.
Media now being blocked from the scene where we captured a breach by hundreds of migrants in El Paso yesterday, how do we do our jobs now? pic.twitter.com/0AnJ9K8VxT
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 22, 2024
“Members of the media: Please stay off the ramp and away from the sliding gate,” reads a sign placed by two Border Patrol agents, right at the site of the incident.
The sign gives a dire warning to reporters, emphasizing: “DO NOT disrupt U.S. Border Patrol Operations by being in the way of transportation vehicles. DO NOT attempt to make contact with migrants unless authorized by U.S. Border Patrol officials.”
At the sign’s bottom, contact information for the U.S. Border Patrol Public Affairs Office is provided, alongside the insignia of the El Paso Sector Texas officer of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Journalists documenting the chaos unfolding along the southern border have criticized the announcement of restricted access in several tweets.
“How do we do our jobs now?” questioned Jennie Taer, the Post reporter behind the viral videos, which collectively have garnered over 20 million views on Twitter alone.
Bill Melugin, a border correspondent for Fox News, noted that this move to block access seemed to follow a pattern of preventing reporters from capturing federal border chaos.
“Reminds me of when the [Federal Aviation Administration] grounded our @FoxNews drone in Del Rio in 2021 by issuing a random TFR when we were the first ones to start showing images of the thousands of Haitians gathering under the international bridge,” Melugin said on Twitter, recalling a previous incident.
He added that he was then taken on a helicopter tour of the southern border by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Walk down memory lane 2.5 years ago.https://t.co/TqVVr6i7VG
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 22, 2024
The chaos ensued after Taer shared videos on Twitter depicting illegal aliens apparently confronting the Texas National Guard at a section of the border where a fence had been breached.
The illegal aliens engaged in a confrontation with the guardsmen, overpowering them and breaching a second layer of fencing seemingly under federal control.
This is the moment when TX National Guard became overrun by migrants rioting to get across the border here in El Paso today
We were there and saw it all happen. Absolute chaos here. pic.twitter.com/VN6Kf663ie
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 21, 2024
BREAKING: A riot just broke out here in El Paso
Hundreds of migrants decided they had enough of TX National Guard returning them to Mexico and rushed the border wall here.
Thankful to be here w/ @JamesBreeden pic.twitter.com/sY84y8QiYi
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 21, 2024
