FCC Announces Investigation Into San Francisco KCBS Broadcast Giving Location Of ICE Agents

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr announced Thursday that they are currently investigating KCBS 740 AM, the radio station in San Francisco which revealed live on air the locations in and around San Jose where undercover ICE vehicles and agents that were conducting deportation operations.

Following Trump’s inauguration on January 20th, the new administration began a new deportation effort nationwide targeting illegal immigrant criminals. In California, arrests have taken place all over the state, with sanctuary cities including Los Angeles prime locations for arrests. In one January operation, nearly 200 illegal aliens were arrested in one day in L.A. Large cities like San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, and San Francisco have joined countless smaller communities to be raided.

In response, many in the California have been a part of large-scale protests. Some protests, like a large one on Monday in L.A., blocked freeways for a short period of time. In Sacramento, lawmakers have likewise been working against the new Trump ICE arrests, with new bills introduced to add protections for illegal migrants, including one bill to make it harder for ICE agents to be around schools. The number of ICE raids and the number of protests have been growing in recent weeks, with some ICE facilities so full that some non-violent detainees have been released, and some protests now numbering in the thousands.

But not every action by detractors has been “above board.” This included the actions of KCBS on January 26th. During a broadcast of KCBS Radio Weekend News, hosts revealed locations in East San Jose where undercover ICE teams were, putting those agents at risk. In addition to the live locations, they also added the specific make, model, and color of cars being used by ICE agents in the operation.

“The Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, which is a community defense projecting system for immigrant communities against deportation threats, first reported the activity on its platforms,” said the host during the broadcast.

As it turned out, the ICE operation in East San Jose was not only a deportation operation, but one that was targeting violent gangs in the area. As a result, the FCC and other organizations were flooded with complaints over what KCBS did. The station, which is owned by the George Soros-backed Audacy company, didn’t respond to the numerous complaints. As a result, the FCC began investigating them, something which came to light on Thursday.

“I try to look on the bright side of things, and here I think that’s the fact, that we were having an unprecedented number of deportations taking place in this country, and for that, thank goodness for President Trump,” said Chairman Carr on Thursday. “Promises made, promises kept. He came in and said he’s the person that can not only secure the border, but also deport people here illegally, and he’s carrying that out with unprecedented speed.

“This is really concerning, so what happened was you had ICE agents undercover doing operations in East San Jose, part of the town known for violent gang activity, and you had this radio station broadcasting the live location, identifying the unmarked vehicles that they were in. We have sent a letter of inquiry, a formal investigation into that matter, and they have days left to respond to that inquiry and explain how this could possibly be consistent with their public interest obligations.”

FCC looking into KCBS ICE reporting actions

As a result, the station’s FCC licensure is now under question, as they have been accused of not operating in public interest.

While the station and Audacy have yet to respond to the FCC investigation, first amendment groups have backed what the station broadcast, arguing that it was a matter of public interest and should be protected.

“Law enforcement operations, immigration or otherwise, are matters of public interest,” explained David Loy, legal director for the First Amendment Coalition, in a statement on Thursday. “People generally have the right to report this on social media and in print and so on. So it’s very troubling because it’s possible the FCC is potentially being weaponized to crack down on reporting that the administration simply just doesn’t like.

“It’s an intimidating exercise. The process is the punishment. Even if charges are never filed, people have to look over their shoulder to wonder, is the government going to come after me because I report something that the government doesn’t like me to say?”

Others have applauded the investigation, arguing that the announcement put federal employees and law enforcement at risk.

“What if some nut heard that and decided to attack the ICE officers there?,” added Frank Ma, a police officer turned security consultant in San Francisco, to the Globe on Friday. “The station put those lives at risk. They were going after undocumented gang members. Someone listening could have thought, ‘screw ICE,’ and then go in and go after them. You do not put lives at risk like that.

“It’s interesting that the station is related to Soros in a way, but that shouldn’t be the focus. The focus should be that they were giving ICE locations away live on the radio. A bigger problem is through social media in my opinion, people blasting out the location of ICE raids. That’s how the station got the location in the first place and all the info around it. But social media legality is murkier. KCBS is a radio station with clear FCC laws. Should the investigation turn anything up, they might just have the book thrown at them for this one. You can’t put lives at risk like this.”