Border Patrol staff are being held back from taking time off because of a vague report saying there is a need for greater support.
The news came from Politico's Betsy Woodruff Swan, who revealed that the National Treasury Employees Union cautioned that it would put staff at risk.
“Yesterday, CBP began informing CBP Officers along the northern and southern borders that the temporary weather and safety leave schedules established to promote their individual health, and the overall health of the entire CBP Office of Field Operations (OFO) workforce along the border, were immediately canceled,” wrote union president Anthony Reardon.
As the COVID-19 outbreak spread across the United States traveling isn't exactly a top activity in the country. There are far fewer people passing through CBP checkpoints, so the agency let staff take weather and safety leave, which also helped reduce the risk of catching the virus.
The letter explained that it was a helpful move for morale but now, “The cancellation announcement is crushing it at a time when CBP can least afford it."
The Department of Homeland Security hasn't explained why they need more CBP workers to be in when there are so few migrant crossings.
“Officers are being told that Border Patrol needs support,” he wrote. “We have seen no objective data to support that claim.”
“Apparently, the rationale for the decision is that CBPOs are needed to be ready to assist Border Patrol should they need assistance stopping an anticipated influx of Covid-19 infected migrants crossing the borders between ports,” the union's Detroit chapter posted on Facebook Monday. “Aside from the fact that there is no evidence that such a threat exists, this is a short-sighted decision, to say the least, from a health and safety perspective.”
They've been ignored.
“Officers are needlessly being put in harm’s way,” Woodruff Swan quoted an officer, who spoke to her anonymously. “We have no problem doing our job, but when the need is not there, we want to focus on going home to our families.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, speculated it was more about politics than protecting the country.
“There’s no good reason for DHS to be putting the health of its front-line workforce in danger unnecessarily," he said. "This seems to be less about homeland security and more likely about the border security politics that this administration loves to partake in.”
