FBI stalls investigations into 'extremists who target children' : MSNBC

With Donald Trump’s administration emphasizing immigration enforcement above all other priorities, investigations of online extremists who recruit teens to their movements and sexual predators who prey on those even younger are being put on the back-burner, according to a report Tuesday.

MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian reported Trump came into office promising the “largest deportation program in American history,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi and embattled FBI Director Kash Patel are making good on that promise by diverting investigators away from their previous duties.

As a report from the Cato Institute recently noted, 2,840 out of approximately 13,800 FBI agents — roughly 20 percent — have been reassigned to work with the ICE to chase down and apprehend immigrants.

According to Dilanian, “The impacts have been significant. Nearly every agent on Baltimore’s domestic terrorism squad was reassigned this year to work full time on immigration enforcement, forcing them to walk away from investigations of a network of violent predators that targets and exploits children online, according to two former FBI officials directly familiar with the matter.”

Michael Feinberg, a former senior FBI executive who was fired by the Trump administration, warned, “Agents aren’t out there recruiting sources. They are not maintaining trip wires. They are not able to keep their ear to the ground about what’s happening among extremist movements. As a result, the extremists have more latitude to do things that harm our society.”

That was confirmed by one current FBI official, who asked that their name not be used before saying, “If the bureau is not looking at domestic terrorism, nobody else is. We are now more susceptible to extremists because of these actions.”

The MSNBC report added that the now-depleted FBI Baltimore unit had previously “focused on the 764 group, which the FBI describes as a ‘nihilistic violent extremist’ group that seeks to blackmail children to perform vile acts on camera. The group seeks ‘to destroy civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors,’” according to a Justice Department news release in April.

The FBI’s Patel has disregarded concerns and insisted, “Ultimately, we are all working towards the same goal, defending the homeland.”

But FBI insiders see it differently, with Dilanian reporting, “Current and former officials say every FBI field office across the country has been required to send agents out on immigration roundups, leaving them less time to work other cases.”