CBP engaged in “flagrant and unlawful mistreatment” of whistleblowers: Chuck Grassley

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is engaging in “flagrant and unlawful mistreatment” of three whistleblowers, including employing the wife of an official who retaliated against them to respond to congressional investigations into their cases, according to the senator. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

CBP employees Fred Wynn, Mike Taylor and Mark Jones have faced professional and financial consequences for more than five years after alleging that their agency had failed to collect DNA from detainees for a decade.

But even after appealing to several independent federal investigators, the trio remains in “constructive retreat,” a source previously told The Post.

CBP has also hampered Grassley’s efforts to learn why the agency ignored a request from one of those watchdogs, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, to end retaliation and provide transparency about the handling of its cases.

Grassley, who has been called “the patron saint of whistleblowers,” sent three letters between August and September to the Department of Homeland Security about the matter, but was denied any information.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is engaging in “flagrant and unlawful mistreatment” of three whistleblowers, according to Senator Chuck Grassley. CBP employees Fred Wynn, Mike Taylor and Mark Jones faced professional and financial consequences after exposing a decade-long failure by their agency to collect DNA from detainees.ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller also directed further investigations to the agency’s deputy deputy commissioner for congressional affairs, who happens to be married to one of the officials who retaliated against the whistleblowers.

“CBP’s persistent efforts to avoid responsibility for retaliating against whistleblowers are unacceptable,” Grassley told The Post.

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“What’s more, CBP’s decision to involve an employed family member of one of the alleged retaliators shows a disturbing lack of awareness on the part of the agency or a complete disregard for the seriousness of this situation,” he said.

“CBP’s persistent efforts to evade responsibility for retaliating against whistleblowers are unacceptable,” Grassley told The Post.REUTERS

“CBP must avoid all conflicts of interest and immediately take appropriate steps to rectify its flagrant and unlawful mistreatment of these whistleblowers.”

A CBP spokesperson said the agency “takes the protection of whistleblowers seriously and has policies and procedures in place to protect them. As this matter is still in active litigation, CBP has limited ability to respond.”

Wynn, Taylor and Jones served in CBP’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Division from 2016 to 2018, which was closed after they made protected disclosures about their division not implementing the DNA Fingerprinting Act since 2009.

After appealing their cases to several independent federal investigators, the trio have been stripped of their badges, firearms and credentials and each remain in “constructive withdrawal.”

The US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) later found that CBP’s “failure to comply with the law has allowed subjects subsequently charged with violent crimes, including homicide and sexual assault, to evade detection even when they were detained several times by CBP or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). .”

Special Counsel Henry Kerner informed then-President Donald Trump and members of Congress of the failure in an Aug. 21, 2019, letter, calling the lapse “an unacceptable abandonment of the agency’s law enforcement mandate.”

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As many as 5 million people may have evaded DNA detection between 2009 and 2019, Kerner said.

In a letter dated December 2, 2021, the OSC announced that its investigation into retaliation had determined that CBP was at fault and that it was “approaching the agency to take corrective action.”

As many as 5 million people may have evaded DNA screening by the Department of Homeland Security between 2009 and 2019, special prosecutor Henry Kerner said.AP

CBP initially told The Post that the OSC was not seeking “remedial action,” but in its latest letter to Grassley it clarified that the independent investigative agency “did not initiate corrective action litigation” and told complainants that it instead , will appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

That legal appeal was voluntarily withdrawn by the Merit Systems Protection Board whistleblowers so they could take it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, sources familiar with the process told The Post.

Grassley, who has been called “the patron saint of whistleblowers,” sent three letters between August and September to the Department of Homeland Security about the matter. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

Meanwhile, Miller told Grassley to contact CBP Congressional Affairs Officer Stephanie Talton, who is the wife of George Talton, acting director of the Field Operational Testing Division, where the whistleblowers now serve.

Grassley previously revealed instances in which the acting director had further retaliated against whistleblowers, even after the OSC concluded its investigation.

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Source: vtt.edu.vn

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