United States Customs and Border Patrol agents have been informed that they must be fully vaccinated by November or face termination, a whistleblower claimed.
The House Judiciary Committee sent a letter late Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying it had come to their attention that CBP employees had received official communication indicating that they would face termination if they were not fully vaccinated against coronavirus by November. (RELATED: ‘Why Didn’t You Build, Forgive Me, A Wall?’: Chris Wallace Confronts Mayorkas On ‘Flood’ Of Migrants At The Border)
🚨 #BREAKING: Whistleblower alleges that Border Patrol agents have been given official notice that they must be fully vaccinated by November 2021 or face termination. pic.twitter.com/5OytCtebe4
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) September 29, 2021
Ranking Member Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Republican California Rep. Tom McClintock signed off on the letter asking Mayorkas why the federal government was imposing another regulation — and the threat of mass termination — while CBP was facing unprecedented surges of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“While our border is facing this serious crisis, we have learned that you are threatening to terminate a significant portion of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) workforce,” Jordan and McClintock wrote. “On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14043 requiring federal employees to fully vaccinate against Covid-19 or face termination of their employment. It has come to our attention that the men and women of CBP have been given official notice that they must be fully vaccinated by November 2021 or face termination.”
Jordan and McClintock went on to note that the CBP often struggled to keep full staff and argued that threats of termination over the vaccine mandate would likely create another roadblock to maintaining enough agents to handle the ongoing issues at the border.
“For years and through multiple administrations, it has been difficult to recruit and retain men and women to serve in U.S. Border Patrol. The locations of the job are typically remote and the job is often dangerous and hard,” Jordan and McClintock wrote, adding that high-level officials and even Vice President Kamala Harris had complicated matters even further when they openly disparaged agents. Their job is made even harder when senior officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, spread false accusations of cruelty.”
Harris had responded a week earlier to viral images of CBP agents on horseback attempting to drive back Haitian migrants who were on foot — and despite denials from CBP and the photographer who captured the images — furthered the narrative that agents appeared to be whipping migrants. (RELATED: Horseback Border Patrol Agents Accused Of Whipping Migrants With Reins Reassigned To Desk Duties)
“It is simply unbelievable that the Biden Administration will allow Covid-positive illegal aliens to surge across the border but will terminate dedicated law-enforcement officers who do not comply with Biden’s mandate,” the letter concluded.