April 16, 2015 11:22 AM UTC

No Truth To Ken Buck's ISIS/Texas Fearmongering

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• by: Colorado Pols

We took note earlier this week of an alarming claim by Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado via Twitter:

ISIS is operating a camp in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, just 8 miles from the U.S. border http://t.co/DS0iz0a3yU #copolitics

— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) April 14, 2015

Ken Buck’s warning that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is “operating a camp just 8 miles from the U.S. border”–note the lack of qualifiers well-adjusted people use like “may be”–was based on a report by the conservative group Judicial Watch, which was then reported by the conservative Washington Times. According to Media Matters for America, Sean Hannity picked up the story on Tuesday, and it spread rapidly from there in the right-wing media.

But is there any truth to this frightening assertion? It doesn’t look like it. The same Washington Times story Buck cited quotes Mexican authorities denying there is an ISIS base anywhere near the U.S. border:

“The government of Mexico dismisses and categorically denies each of the statements made today by the organization Judicial Watch on the alleged presence of ISIS’s operating cells throughout the border region, particularly at Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua – El Paso, Texas,” Ariel Moutsatsos-Morales, Mexico’s minister for press and public affairs, told The Washington Times.

“The relevant authorities operating in the region have also confirmed the inexistence of these activities with their US counterparts, with whom they will continue to work closely and to exchange information at our common border,” Moutsatsos-Morales added.

KVIA-TV in El Paso checked with local American authorities, who dismissed this latest report of ISIS lurking over the border as unsubstantiated–just like previous similar reports:

It is similar to a rumor that U.S. federal officials dismissed months ago.

ABC-7 checked with several federal law agencies involved with border security and were told the report is unverified, and it is unlikely that ISIS is in Anapra or Juarez, Mexico.

Bottom line: unless this conservative advocacy group is privy to intelligence that nobody else has, including the governments of the United States and Mexico, there’s simply no evidence that any of this is true. For a sitting member of Congress to spread such a frightening, unconfirmed rumor without any kind of qualifier that it is unconfirmed is–needless to say–highly irresponsible.

On second thought, maybe we do need to say it, since it’s been two days now and no reporter has circled back with Buck to ask about it. No matter how safely conservative a district Buck represents, we have to think there are voters in his district who won’t appreciate this baseless fearmongering.

And we think they ought to know.