DHS Claims 8,000% Jump in Danger While Hunting Journalist's Gossip Source

KEY POINTS

•In February 2026, Kristi Noem announced catching another prolific leaker and referred them for criminal prosecution amid a claimed spike in death threats.
•The crackdown intensified after April 2025 when DOJ ended protections against subpoenaing journalists, leading to FBI raids and arrests of reporters including Don Lemon.
•Press freedom advocates warn these actions serve to punish scrutiny, stifling reporting and making whistleblowing too risky amid growing ICE funding and controversial enforcement tactics.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is playing 'Where's Waldo?' with government leakers, boasting she just caught another 'prolific' tipster to send to the Justice Department for felony fun. Her claim of an '8,000% surge' in death threats against DHS law enforcement is suspiciously cited nowhere—because who needs sources when you have Twitter drama? Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s crackdown, starting April last year with Pam Bondi reauthorizing journalist subpoenas, has escalated to FBI raiding a Washington Post reporter’s home and arresting CNN’s Don Lemon at a Minnesota church during an anti-ICE protest. Press freedom champions like Bruce Brown and Katherine Jacobsen warn this is not about national security but chilling scrutiny, as DHS veers into a bureaucratic witch hunt fueled by misstated Minnesota shootings and immigration propaganda. So basically, leaks uncover that ICE claims to barge into homes warrant-free and that DHS lovingly labels protesters 'domestic terrorists,' and suddenly journalists are the villains. For context, ICE is now America’s highest-funded law enforcement agency, and transparency is apparently on the endangered species list.