According to a recently disclosed report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, the Customs and Border Patrol used government databases and assets to investigate and track as many as 20 journalists, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for the Associated Press, the Associated Press reports.

CBP Agent Jeffrey Rambo told federal investigators that he conducted such research in 2017 and that such checks were routine at the agency.  “When a name comes across your desk you run it through every system you have access too, that’s just status quo, that’s what everyone does,” Rambo was quoted by Yahoo News as saying.

In a 500-page redacted report obtained by the Associated Press, the DHS inspector general acknowledged that the agency’s investigations into journalists was more extensive than originally thought.  The depth of the investigations has raised alarm bells with journalists.

“We are deeply concerned about this apparent abuse of power. This appears to be an example of journalists being targeted for simply doing their jobs, which is a violation of the First Amendment,” Lauren Easton, AP’s director of media relations, said in a statement.

While the Obama administration was criticized for obtaining journalists’ communications records in the course of investigating suspected crimes, Donald Trump and his administration took their war on the media to a different level, labeling journalists as enemies of the state.

Rambo has a checkered history with the media.  He once seemed to threaten a Buzzfeed writer to pressure her to turn over the names of her sources.  He also had some bigoted online comments uncovered by journalists.