James O'Keefe by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0
CV NEWS FEED // A team of undercover journalists reported that they infiltrated an illegal migrant housing compound located inside an Arizona hotel.
James O’Keefe and his organization O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) posted a video of their findings to various social media platforms Wednesday.
O’Keefe wrote on X that he and other OMG journalists “infiltrate[d]” the “converted illegal immigrant compound” reportedly operated by Casa Alitas. He added that the alleged compound was located at a Ramada hotel close to the Tucson airport.
“Here, Casa Alitas migrants are brought to the Ramada Inn, where breakfast, lunch, hygienic services, and free wifi is offered,” O’Keefe wrote.
Many of the migrants appeared to be military-age males.
“Migrants shared with one of our undercover journalists that [non-governmental organizations (NGOs)] ‘Get paid no matter what,’” he added on X:
Our undercover journalist confirms with a migrant that they have seen many gang members come through in caravans. The migrant tells us that Border Patrols suspect gang members but they still let them pass through, “They will ask about gang tattoos but Border Patrol still lets those people in.”
“We see migrants, illegal immigrants, standing in the rooms,” O’Keefe reported from outside the facility, as seen in the video.
In his own words, O’Keefe had “disguised himself as a homeless drunk vagrant.”
“What is this business over here?” he asked a security guard in the vicinity of the hotel.
“It doesn’t matter,” the guard replied. “You got to go, because the [sic] Pima County is coming with the sheriff.”
“What is this place?” the disguised O’Keefe asked Tucson Police Officer Kristen Moritz. “I want a room here.”
“You cannot stay here, they’re full,” she replied. “Stay off the property.”
O’Keefe asked her if the hotel was a “migrant place.”
“None of your business,” she said. “Get going.”
“[The migrants are] supposed to have a sponsor,” Mortiz later explained to another undercover journalist. “That means they lied to be here in the first place and that’s what can get them in trouble.”
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O’Keefe and his team enlisted the help of Caesar, a Mexican illegal immigrant whistleblower who wore a hidden camera into the facility.
Speaking Spanish, a migrant told Caesar that Casa Alitas had given him a plane ticket.
Caesar asked him if there were “still a lot” of people crossing the border.
“Yes, there are many,” the migrant replied.
Author and Babylon Bee contributor Ashley St. Clair also assisted OMG with the group’s effort to expose the compound.
Per O’Keefe, St. Clair went undercover as a “local ministry outreach member.”
In the video, a taxi cab driver can be seen telling St. Clair that Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, Inc. (CCS-SOAZ) provides services to the migrants at the hotel. “The problem is they don’t treat them well,” he added.
“Oh, they don’t treat [the migrants] well?” St. Clair asked.
“No,” the cab driver told her. “I hear from [the migrants], they scare them.”
Furthermore, the video showed another police officer threatening to arrest O’Keefe and his fellow journalists as a bus pulled up immediately behind him.
“Is that a bus filled with illegal immigrants behind you?” O’Keefe asked the officer, who identified himself as Deputy Carter from the Pima County Sheriff’s office.
“I’m not sure,” Carter replied.
“Don’t lie to me,” O’Keefe said.
After several attempts to deflect O’Keefe’s questions, Carter eventually replied, “Sir, I’m not on the bus.”
Ramada is a subsidiary of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
Casa Alitas calls itself “A Refuge in Tucson” on its public website.
“Casa Alitas offers shelter, necessities and travel assistance to asylum seeking families. Our guests arrive for a short stay, after their release from Border Patrol and [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] detention,” the website continues.
“We help our guests find safe harbor, and reunite with loved ones across the U.S.,” it claims.
