去年，两名在芝加哥地区一处移民拘留中心外遭拘留的人士起诉右翼播客主持人本尼·约翰逊诽谤。他们称，约翰逊恶意将他们描绘成暴力极端分子，还编造他们袭击联邦执法人员的谎言。
Two people detained outside a Chicago-area immigration detention center last year are suing right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson for defamation, saying he falsely portrayed them as violent extremists who assaulted federal officers.
这两名原告分别是伊利诺伊州居民、哈佛大学数据科学家凯尔·弗兰科维奇以及自由职业法庭速记员莫琳·富迪。他们于周五向美国伊利诺伊州北区地方法院提起诉讼。据他们所述，当时他们正在布罗德维尤拘留中心外进行和平抗议，但约翰逊却故意在发布给数百万观众的视频中将他们塑造成罪犯与恐怖分子。
Illinois residents Kyle Frankovich, a data scientist at Harvard University, and Maureen Foody, a contract court reporter, filed the lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. They said they were detained while protesting peacefully outside the Broadview detention center, but that Johnson knowingly framed them as criminals and terrorists in videos he posted to millions of viewers.
这似乎是首起针对特朗普政府“强硬移民政策”引发的诽谤诉讼——被告正是特朗普政府非官方宣传团队中的一员。该团队由众多MAGA支持者网红组成，他们通过放大政府将左翼抗议者描绘为危险煽动分子的言论来吸引线上受众、影响保守派舆论走向，并以此换取与政府接触的机会。
It appears to be the first defamation suit related to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown filed against a member of the administration’s unofficial team of MAGA influencers a corps of creators who amplify the government’s framing of left-wing protesters as dangerous agitators in exchange for access that draws online audiences and shapes the conservative news cycle.
代表弗兰科维奇与富迪的律师事务所之一——常青法律策略事务所的律师卡里安妮·琼斯对MS NOW表示，这起诉讼旨在追究那些“充当政府传声筒”之人的责任。目前，约翰逊尚未对置评请求作出回应。
Karianne Jones, a lawyer at Evergreen Legal Strategies, one of the firms representing Frankovich and Foody, told MS NOW that the lawsuit is a way to hold accountable people who “serve as a mouthpiece for the government.”Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
约翰逊曾是BuzzFeed的保守派撰稿人，后因抄袭行为遭解雇。此后他转型为右翼活动家，先后为“美国转折点”组织制作内容，随后又创办了自己的在线视频频道。
Johnson, a former conservative writer for BuzzFeed who was fired for plagiarism remade himself as a right-wing activist, creating content for Turning Point USA and then his own online video channels.
他是特朗普第二届政府赖以宣传其叙事并庆祝其议程的几位创造者之一。2025年，约翰逊受邀坐在白宫新闻发布室的一个特殊的“新媒体”座位上，并与国土安全部以及移民和海关执法局官员一起乘车。他是一群有影响力的人中的一员，他们有特殊的机会记录ICE的行动和反ICE的抗议活动，他们重复了特朗普政府关于左翼国内恐怖分子正在全国范围内针对联邦特工发动暴力运动的说法。
He is one of several creators the second Trump administration has leaned on to promote its narratives and celebrate its agenda. In 2025, Johnson was invited to sit in a special“new media” seat in the White House briefing room and brought on ride-alongs with Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. He was part of a gaggle of influencers given special access to document ICE operations and anti-ICE protests, who parroted Trump administration claims that left-wing domestic terrorists were waging a nationwide campaign of violence against federal agents.
该诉讼将约翰逊的内容描述为“打扮成新闻的政治斗争”。2025年10月3日，约翰逊陪同当时的国土安全部部长克里斯蒂·诺姆和前边境巡逻队指挥官格雷戈里·博维诺前往布罗德维尤ICE设施，该设施已成为特工与公民，记者和当地政客之间不断升级的对抗场所，他们聚集在那里抗议特朗普政府在芝加哥的反移民运动和监狱内的条件。
The lawsuit described Johnson’s content as “political combat dressed up as news.”On Oct. 3, 2025 Johnson accompanied then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino to the Broadview ICE facility, which had become a site of escalating confrontations between agents and the citizens, journalists and local politicians who gathered there to protest the Trump administration s anti-immigration campaign in Chicago and the conditions inside the jail.
来自布罗德维尤以外的视频已经传播开来，显示特工们推搡抗议者，发射催泪瓦斯和胡椒球，似乎没有理由，弗兰克维奇和福迪在约翰逊到达的那天就在抗议人群中。他们站在一个指定的“言论自由”区，当-没有挑衅，根据投诉-几名抗议者被推，打，被迫倒在地上，并被特工拘留。
Videos from outside Broadview had gone viral, showing agents shoving protesters and firing tear gas and pepper balls, seemingly without justification Frankovich and Foody were among the crowd of protesters the day that Johnson arrived. They were standing in a designated “free speech” zone, when — without provocation, according to the complaint — several protestors were shoved, struck, forced to the ground and detained by agents.
在接受《今日美国》采访时，弗兰科维奇说，他出来支持他的社区，就像他和妻子几周来所做的那样--分发哨子，为学校的家庭提供安全保障，并出现在布罗德维尤。
In an interview with MS NOW, Frankovich said he had come out to support his community, as he and his wife had done for weeks — handing out whistles, providing security for families at schools and showing up at Broadview.
约翰逊发布到X、Facebook、YouTube、Instagram和Rumble的纪录片风格视频显示，播客似乎在嘲笑抗议者，而联邦特工则站在他们之间。
The documentary-style videos Johnson posted to X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Rumble show the podcaster seemingly taunting the protestors as federal agents stood between them.
“这些正是我们想惹恼的人……是你们的眼泪让我们继续前进，”约翰逊在其中说道。
“These are exactly the kind of people that we want to be pissing off … It’s your tears that keep us going,” Johnson says in one.
在下一个场景中，约翰逊展示了包括弗兰克科维奇和福迪在内的大约10名被拘留的抗议者，他们沿着布罗德维尤拘留中心外的护栏排成一排，双手被拉链绑着。他称他们为“因袭击警察和ICE官员而被捕的左翼恐怖分子”。诉状称：“所有这些都是错误的，约翰逊先生知道这一点。”
In the next scene, Johnson shows around 10 detained protesters, including Frankovich and Foody, lined up along a guardrail outside the Broadview detention center, their hands bound by zip ties. He refers to them as “left-wing terrorists arrested for attacking police officers and ICE officers.”“All of this was false, which Mr. Johnson knew,” the complaint says.
“我今天看到数十名民主党国内恐怖分子因暴力袭击联邦执法部门而被捕。这里的每一位活动人士都在光天化日之下攻击ICE特工，只是为了执行美国法律，”约翰逊在当天发布的众多视频中写道。该帖子被观看了170万次，并引发了数百条评论，称被拘留的抗议者为“国内恐怖分子”，并呼吁将他们驱逐出境和起诉。约翰逊分享了至少七篇关于他那一天Broadview的帖子，该帖子获得了数百万人的集体观点，弗兰克科维奇和福迪没有被指控犯有任何罪行。
“I saw dozens of Democrat domestic terrorists arrested today for VIOLENT ASSAULT on federal law enforcement. Every activist here attacked ICE agents in broad daylight just for enforcing American law,” Johnson captioned one of many videos from that day posted to The post was viewed 1.7 million times and drew hundreds of comments calling the detained protesters “domestic terrorists” and calling for their deportation and prosecution. Johnson shared least seven posts about his day Broadview which garnered millions of collective views Frankovich and Foody were not charged with any crime.
起诉书称，在被拘留了大约八个小时（弗兰克科维奇称这是一种创伤）后，他们在距离监狱半英里的地方被无罪释放。
After being detained for around eight hours, which Frankovich described as traumatizing, they were released without charges a half-mile from the jail, according to the complaint.
弗兰克科维奇获释后表示，当他看到约翰逊的帖子和随后的评论时，他感到震惊。他说，约翰逊的观众称他为反法西斯运动领导人，猜测他的身份并“试图找到我并阻止我”。诉状中的评论包括呼吁酷刑、枪杀被拘留的抗议者。国土安全部将弗兰克科维奇被拘留的照片变成了招聘海报。
After his release, Frankovich said he was shaken when he saw Johnson’s posts and the comments that followed. He said Johnson’s audience was calling him an antifa leader, speculating about his identity and “trying to find me and stop me.”Comments in the complaint included calls to torture, shoot and kill the detained protestors. DHS turned a photo of Frankovich being detained into a recruitment poster.
“FAFO”--“fuck around and get out”的缩写，这是极右翼人士流行的首字母缩写--国土安全部的标题在一张弗兰科维奇的照片上方写道，他独特的纹身明显，系着拉链。
“FAFO” — short for “fuck around and find out,” an acronym popular with the far right — the DHS caption read, above a photo of Frankovich, his distinctive tattoos visible, in zip ties.
“我们不会允许暴力活动人士[原文如此]对我们的执法部门进行干预，”它继续说道。
“We will NOT allow violent activist [sic] to lay hands on our law enforcement,” it continued.
照片下方写着：“加入.JOIN.ICE.GOV。” 弗兰科维奇也是近期向美国国土安全部投诉“中途突击行动”的数十名美国公民及合法居民之一，他们指控移民执法局人员滥用武力、非法拘留民众，还造成了其他种种伤害。
Below the photo it said: “JOIN.ICE.GOV Frankovich is also one of dozens of U.S. citizens and legal residents who have filed recent complaints to DHS over Operation Midway Blitz, alleging immigration agents used excessive force and detained people illegally, among other harms.
“在那种地狱般的地方遭到殴打和拘留本身就令人心有余悸，”弗兰科维奇说道，“可几天后，我又发现自己的形象被用于宣传材料，用来招募更多移民执法局人员继续残害我的社区？”弗兰科维奇称此举“令人作呕”。“他们不该随意编造关于我的谎言，”他说。这起诉讼要求获得数额未定的赔偿金及惩罚性赔偿。
“Being assaulted and detained in a hellhole was itself traumatizing,” Frankovich said. “Then, for several days later, to see myself used in propaganda to recruit additional ICE agents to continue to brutalize my community?”Frankovich called it “disgusting.”“You shouldn’t get to lie about me,” he said. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
此前，MAGA阵营的播客主理人本尼·约翰逊曾因移民执法局发布的随警行动视频起诉对方诽谤，那些视频将抗议者称作“恐怖分子”。MS NOW
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