Tag Archive for: customs and border protection

FBI Has Massive 15 Month Backlog On DNA Testing For Migrants, Unearthed Emails Show

  • The FBI’s system for processing DNA submitted by federal border authorities to vet migrant families is overwhelmed, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) email chain reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
  • FBI Director Christopher Wray has said the bureau has seen a “dramatic increase” in DNA samples due to the migrant surges.
  • “They [FBI] don’t have enough money to run the program which is a statutory requirement. They are still delivering kits and used to turn them around in 2 months, now they are looking at a 15 month backlog,” one CBP official said in the internal chain.

The FBI has a 15 month backlog on DNA testing for migrants and is running out of money to sustain the program, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) email chain reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) uses tests from the FBI, which then analyzes and stores them for federal border authorities, to test migrants 14 years old and older, according to the emails. FBI Director Christopher Wray previously raised concerns about the FBI’s ability to handle the “dramatic increase” in DNA samples given the migration surges in April, according to Voice of America.

“They [FBI] don’t have enough money to run the program which is a statutory requirement. They are still delivering kits and used to turn them around in 2 months, now they are looking at a 15 month backlog,” one CBP official said in the internal chain regarding its response to a Washington Post reporter working on a story regarding the DNA testing.

Federal authorities have recorded record flows of migrants crossing the southern border illegally in recent years, with roughly 2.2 million encounters in fiscal year 2022 and more than 2 million in fiscal year 2023, according to federal data.

The FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is used by federal, state and local labs to connect offenders to crimes, according to the bureau.

In a proposed response to the reporter’s question, the officials admitted that migrants who aren’t wanted for crimes are always released from agency custody before the DNA testing is completed.

“Migrants remain in CBP custody for up to 72 hours. Since the FBI’s DNA analysis has always taken longer than three days, migrants have always released from CBP custody prior to the FBI completing its DNA analysis. Migrants wanted for a crime are transferred to appropriate law enforcement agencies. You may, however, wish to contact ICE to learn whether the current delay in FBI DNA analysis may have impacted ICE’s release of migrants as ICE holds migrants longer than CBP,” one portion of an email read.

When it comes to the migration flows to the U.S., federal border authorities have found significant numbers of migrants that are fraudulently making it seem like they’re legitimate families. Border Patrol has a contract for rapid DNA testing of families, according to the emails.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pilot program previously found that 16 out of 84 families were “fraudulent” and not actually related, while a separate program discovered that out of a total of 522 migrant families, 79 were fraudulent. The Trump administration expanded the federal government’s DNA program at the border in 2020.

In May, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation found that CBP lacked the sufficient supplies of testing kits to obtain DNA samples, reporting “some individuals in CBP custody not having their DNA collected by CBP officers and agents.”

As of publication, the GAO says CBP has yet to fulfill its recommendations to resolve the issue.

In the email chain, the CBP officials noted the GAO report, saying that while the reporter “may benefit from reading” it, “it raises issues of CBP & FBI compliance with DNA testing that we may not need to introduce if the reporter has not already read this report.”

The FBI did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

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Migrant Encounters At The Southern Border Hit New All-Time Record

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) migrant encounters at the southern border surpassed 250,000 for the month of December, the highest ever recorded, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source, who requested anonymity as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The new total surpasses May 2022’s more than 241,000 migrant encounters, which was the highest DHS ever recorded before December 2022. The total encounters include Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations encounters of migrants both at and between U.S. ports of entry.

Fox News first reported the new record.

In December, Republican states and the Biden administration fought over whether or not to scrap Title 42, the Trump-era public health order used to quickly expel illegal migrants to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Illegal immigration surged during that time period in places like El Paso, Texas, where hundreds of migrants crossed into the area in a matter of days in anticipation of Title 42 expiring on Dec. 21 due to a previous court ruling that the Supreme Court quickly paused.

The influx in El Paso drew the attention of President Joe Biden, who visited the area Jan. 8 in his first border visit.

Biden’s tenure in office has been marked by years of record migrant encounters. In fiscal year 2022, CBP encountered another record of more than 2.3 million at the southern border.

Biden announced Jan. 5 new efforts to expel illegal migrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua to Mexico. The plan also means that migrants from those countries who don’t cross illegally will have the opportunity to apply for asylum at U.S. ports of entry if they have a U.S. sponsor.

CBP didn’t respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

‘F*cking Insanity’: Massive Congressional Spending Bill Says Border Patrol Can’t Spend Funds On Border Security

The massive congressional spending bill released Tuesday would bar Customs and Border Protection (CBP) funding from going toward border security as the agency sees record numbers of illegal immigrants.

The bill states that the $1,563,143,000 in funds allocated to CBP for “Operations and Support” can’t be used “to acquire, maintain, or extend border security technology and capabilities, except for technology and capabilities to improve Border Patrol processing.” The bill was introduced in the Senate Tuesday and needs to be passed in order to avert a government shutdown.

Former CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan called the funding restriction “fucking insanity,” in a statement to the DCNF.

“They finally put down in black and white what we’ve been saying for two years- they don’t care about securing our borders or stopping their deadly open border policies. Just throwing money at the crisis to get better and more effective at processing and releasing illegal aliens,” Morgan said.

The lack of funding for border security comes as illegal immigration, drug seizures and encounters of individuals on the terror watchlist are surging at the southern border.

CBP officers encountered a record of more than 2.3 million migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022. During that time, CBP also caught a record of 98 individuals on the terror watchlist and seized more than 14,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl.

Federal border authorities have also encountered a surge in illegal immigrants of “special interest,” who come from countries of particular national security concern and “possibly have a nexus to terrorism.”

“At this point, they might as well change the name of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to U.S. Customs and Border Processing. Seriously, all the Biden administration wants CBP to do is process migrants or watch them come across with a drone or camera,” Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) Head of Government Relations and Communications RJ Hauman told the DCNF. “Every border security funding stream in a spending bill needs firm conditions to use the money properly, rather than enabling a system that functions as a lawless, greased up turnstile into the United States.”

CBP didn’t respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

‘Finally Backing Down’: Border Patrol Lifts Vaccine Mandate For Personnel

  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has lifted its vaccine mandate, according to a memorandum exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
  • “CBP is halting the COVID-19 screening program, and employees may choose to withdraw their pending reasonable accommodation requests for screening exemption,” an internal CBP memorandum stated.
  • Several agents who fought for vaccine exemptions are both happy and frustrated over the new decision, they told the DCNF.
  • “Management is finally backing down because this is a fight that they’re not going to win. I think this is a huge win for people that didn’t get the vaccine. It’s almost like a relief,” one Border Patrol agent said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has ended the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its personnel, according to a memorandum exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“CBP is halting the COVID-19 screening program, and employees may choose to withdraw their pending reasonable accommodation requests for screening exemption,” an internal CBP memorandum stated. National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd confirmed to the DCNF that both the vaccine mandate and testing requirements have been lifted.

President Joe Biden issued the mandate for all federal employees via a Sept. 9 executive order. Border agents who didn’t get vaccinated and didn’t have approved exemptions faced possible termination, two active agents and a union official previously told the DCNF.

Due to a court order, CBP paused the vaccine requirement in January in favor of Texas’ push to block the mandate.

But the latest move makes some unvaccinated agents feel like their battles against the mandate, the ostracization from their fellow agents and fears that they’d lose their jobs were all for naught, four of them, all from different sectors of the southern border, told the DCNF on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution.

“It frustrates me,” one Border Patrol agent fighting the mandate with a pending appeal for a religious exemption told the DCNF.

“It boggles my mind that the agency was ready to lose maybe about half of its workforce during this crisis that we’re having right now at the border. I just didn’t understand that they were willing  to reprimand these guys or even dismiss them or fire them going through this crisis at the border,” the agent added.

CBP leadership has realized it was fighting a losing battle, a second Border Patrol agent, who requested a religious exemption, told the DCNF.

“Management is finally backing down because this is a fight that they’re not going to win. I think this is a huge win for people that didn’t get the vaccine. It’s almost like a relief,” the agent said.

“It’s a joke because we’re so worried about COVID that we’re letting in all these aliens unvaccinated, untested, we’re not doing anything for them, right? We’re not testing them when they come across. We’re not giving them the vaccine when they come across, but COVID is such a big deal,” they added.

The record surge in illegal migration in fiscal year 2022, when CBP encountered roughly 2.3 million migrants, has only made matters worse for the workforce, especially those threatened for not getting the jab.

“It doesn’t even feel like we’re the sworn agents that we were developed and made out to be … we’re the guys that are protecting the border. It’s like they don’t even care. We’re not even like people to them. At this point. It’s just a statistic,” a third agent requesting a religious accommodation said.

“It does very much feel like we’re being tossed around and like our lives don’t matter. We’re talking about people with families, with medical issues, prior medical issues, monetary issues, there are some people that live check to check, and the patrol is going to burden them with termination. That was insane. You got to be kidding. We’re at this point now.”

A fourth agent, who fought against the vaccine mandate on both religious and medical grounds, said other than one superior, they’ve not faced too much scrutiny over the fight for an exemption.

“The rest of them, they understand it’s bullshit,” the agent said.

CBP didn’t respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Tlaib Calls for Defunding Border Protection, Immigration Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security

One might almost get the impression that she wants America defenseless before its enemies, if it weren’t for the establishment media and the political elites reassuring us of how patriotic she is.

Rashida Tlaib calls to defund immigration agencies amid border crisis

by Mark Moore, New York Post, July 8, 2021:

​Rep. Rashida Tlaib, original member of the progressive “Squad,” is calling for defunding immigration agencies like Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and even the Department of Homeland Security, because they “terrorize” migrant communities.

Tlaib (D-Mich) in comments released Wednesday from an interview with Just Futures Law was reacting to a question about her thoughts on President Biden wanting to increase technology at the border for CBP​, Immigration and Customs Enforcement​ and the Department of Homeland Security in response to the ongoing crisis of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants arriving in the US.

“Look, the simple answer to that question is we must eliminate funding for CBP, ICE and their parent organization, DHS,” Tlaib told the legal group that opposes deportation.

“Time after time we have seen it as advocates on the ground, as human services agencies on the ground continue to see over and over again, that these agencies are inept to humanely guiding migrants through our immigration system and instead they further continue to terrorize migrant communities located within our communities,” she said in the interview​ recorded last month.​…​

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‘Do You Miss Me Yet?’: Trump Gets Political During Wedding Speech At Mar-A-Lago

WATCH FULL COMMENTS BY PREISDENT TRUMP:


Former President Donald Trump recently ripped into President Joe Biden and his administration for a variety of issues during a speech at a wedding held at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The speech was reportedly given Saturday night during a wedding for John and Megan Arrigo. The video was then obtained by TMZ over the weekend, reported The Hill. The video opens with Trump talking about seeing the news and hearing about the border, China and Iran.

“The border is not good. The border is the worst anybody has ever seen it. And what you see now, multiply it times 10,” Trump said to the crowd, stating that it’s best to be tough on immigration in a humanitarian way.

He went on to talk about the surge of children immigrants at the border, noting the conditions the children have been living in. An aide to the former president, Jason Miller, has said that Trump is considering a visit to the Mexican border.

“Look, it’s a disaster. It’s a humanitarian disaster from their standpoint and it’s gonna destroy the country and, frankly, the country can’t afford it,” Trump said. He then commented on the stress that the border crisis creates on education and healthcare systems before asking the crowd, “Do you miss me yet?”

Biden has faced criticism from multiple parties across the political spectrum for the way he and his administration have been handling the crisis on the southern border. He has even drawn criticism from the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said that Biden’s policies “created expectations” and that migrants wanting to cross the border think it is easier to do so.

Trump went on and briefly commented on the 2020 election before closing the speech by telling the couple it was “an honor to be here” and that they were “a great and beautiful couple.”

COLUMN BY

KYLE HECKMAN

Contributor.

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