An employee of the United States Attorney’s Office in Brownsville has managed to put herself on the wrong side of the law in a way that is both reckless and jaw dropping. Karen Olvera De Leon, who should have been supporting federal law enforcement, is instead facing terrorism related charges for allegedly helping amplify a death threat against a federal agent. When even prosecutors’ offices can’t keep their own people from aiding online radicals, something is seriously broken.
According to the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, Olvera De Leon was arrested on November 20 and booked into the Carrizales Rucker Detention Center. Her bond was set at twenty thousand dollars, but she was released on personal recognizance, which is remarkable considering the nature of the charges. She is facing two felonies under Texas law, one for terrorism and another for tampering with evidence. The terrorism component comes from prosecutors alleging that she actively enhanced a threat made against a border agent by supplying the agent’s full personal identity, essentially serving him up to someone already making violent threats.
The incident traces back to a June 9 immigration enforcement operation in Brownsville involving Border Patrol and ICE. People filmed the raid and posted it online. That’s not unusual anymore, but what followed was. A man in the livestream comments posted a death threat against one of the agents. Then another commenter, allegedly Olvera De Leon, doxxed the agent by posting his full name and details directly to the person who had made the threat. The moment she did that, she crossed a line that turns irresponsible behavior into criminal conduct.
Authorities say she later tried to delete or alter digital traces of her involvement, which is what brought on the tampering charge. And given the recent rise in threats and attacks on federal agents, including the July shooting at a Border Patrol facility in McAllen by a gunman in tactical gear, this wasn’t happening in a vacuum. Border agents are already under siege. They shouldn’t have to worry about being targeted by someone working inside a U.S. Attorney’s Office.
If she is convicted of the terrorism charge, a second degree felony, she could face two to twenty years in prison. And frankly, if the allegations are accurate, it’s hard to imagine why someone entrusted with sensitive information and employed by federal prosecutors would think tipping off a violent commenter online was anything short of catastrophic. This case is a reminder that the crisis at the border isn’t just about policy failures. It’s about the pressure and danger faced by agents on the ground, danger that should never be amplified by someone inside the system.
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