US Customs and Border Protection made a “clearly false” claim to The Post when it denied it was ordered to take “corrective action” after deposing a whistleblower, Senator Chuck Grassley said.
Grassley (R-Iowa), 89, wrote in a letter to Biden officials on Monday that CBP falsely claimed it was never asked to remedy the situation it created by demoting three employees for revealing failures in the agency’s criminal DNA collection.
Grassley – who has been called the “patron saint of whistleblowers” – said the US Office of Special Counsel had twice informed him that it had actually “requested corrective action with CBP” after a federal investigation found employees had been retaliated against, according to a copy of his letter sent to the Homeland Security Secretary. Interior Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller.
CBP has told The Post that the OSC is not seeking “corrective action” involving the agency — and that the targeted employees have not yet been returned to their previous positions.
“Based on CBP’s public statements that have been proven false, when will it issue a public retraction to clarify that OSC is actually requesting corrective action?” Grassley said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said US Customs and Border Protection made “clearly false” claims to The Post about whistleblowers.Getty Images
CBP claims it was never asked to initiate “corrective action” for three employees after a federal investigation found each had been retaliated against for highlighting failures in DNA collection.CBP
Grassley asked Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller (above), “Based on CBP’s proven false public statements, when will it issue a public retraction to clarify that OSC has in fact sought corrective action?” AP
Grassley also sent a letter to Mayorkas on Aug. 18 asking him to “immediately initiate corrective action” for the whistleblower but did not hear back by his Sept. 1 deadline.
“When can I expect a response to my letter of August 18, 2023 regarding your plans to initiate corrective action regarding this retaliatory conduct against the whistleblower and hold the responders accountable?” he asked Mayorkas and Miller in his latest letter, setting a second deadline of September 18.
CBP did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Grassley also sent a letter to federal Department of Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas (above) asking him to “immediately initiate corrective action” for the whistleblower but did not hear back by his September 1 deadline.Getty Images
In 2018, CBP closed its Weapons of Mass Destruction Division after three whistleblowers — Fred Wynn, Mike Taylor and Mark Jones — drew attention to their agency’s failure since 2009 to collect DNA from detainees.
The failure to collect DNA for more than 5 million people during that time allowed some violent criminals to escape justice, according to Special Counsel Henry Kerner, who called it “an unacceptable dereliction of the agency’s law enforcement mandate.
“The agency’s lack of compliance with the law has allowed subjects later accused of violent crimes, including murder and sexual assault, to evade detection despite multiple arrests by CBP or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” Kerner told President Donald Trump and Congress in a letter of August 21, 2019.
Failure to collect DNA for more than 5 million people has allowed some violent criminals to escape justice, according to the Office of the Special Counsel.AFP via Getty Images
The DNA Fingerprinting Act required all federal law enforcement agencies to collect DNA from detainees at the start of the Obama administration, but the law was later narrowly interpreted by then-Attorney General Eric Holder to exclude DHS and CBP.
“There may be situations where the collection of DNA samples is not operationally feasible due to the sudden mass influx of aliens without immigration status,” Holder wrote in a July 22, 2010 letter to then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Grassley has been called “the patron saint of whistleblowers.” Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Holder also gave DHS an unspecified amount of time to “implement the collection of DNA samples withheld by his agency” due to an apparent lack of resources, according to the Nov. 18, 2010 memo.
CBP whistleblowers worked for a pilot program to implement the DNA law between 2016 and 2018 — and approached the OSC in mid-2018 to reveal the failure after their division was shut down and they suffered reputational damage.
The US Merit System Protection Board is appealing their case, but that hasn’t stopped DHS and CBP from taking further retaliation, according to Grassley.
“The agency’s failure to comply with the law has allowed subjects later accused of violent crimes, including murder and sexual assault, to evade detection,” the OSC told former President Donald Trump and Congress. AFP via Getty Images
The whistleblower has been approved for performance awards and various positions, the Special Counsel said.
Taylor and Jones served decades in federal law enforcement but have since been stripped of their badges, guns and credentials, according to disclosures they made to the DHS Office of Inspector General and DHS Office of General Counsel last year.
Taylor has also taken away his retirement protection and future pension payments.
Jones, who served as acting director of the WMD program, was approved for the directorship of a new office that does similar law enforcement work called the Operational Field Testing Division.
The senator demanded answers from Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller (above), among others. CBP / Polaris
All three were eventually placed on “constructive retirement” for their whistleblower disclosures after CBP sought to make “an example” of them, a source familiar with the investigation previously told The Post.
The OSC found that “CBP’s actions were motivated by the agency’s displeasure with the Complainant’s actual and perceived involvement in exposing the agency’s decade-long willful failure to implement laws designed to protect public safety,” according to the Dec. 2 filing. 2021, letter summarizing its findings and was first reported by The Post.
An OSC spokesperson told The Post when contacted for comment on Grassley’s letter on Tuesday, “Due to ongoing litigation, the OSC is unable to comment at this time.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
