A new memo revealed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) retaliated against a group of agency whistleblowers who blew the lid off their non-compliance with a law requiring DNA collection from unlawful immigrants.
Those whistleblowers - Fred Wynn, Mike Taylor and Mark Jones - told reporter Catherine Herridge: 'the agency's goal is to bankrupt you, make you quit, die, kill yourselves, or basically, preferably, all the above.'
An internal memo from the US Office of Special Counsel obtained by Herridge found: 'the agency retaliated against the complainants for actual or perceived disclosures of wrongdoing.'
'The willful non-compliance, I believe, is inexplicable,' one whistleblower told Herridge.
Whistleblowers Fred Wynn, Mike Taylor and Mark Jones - told reporter Catherine Herridge: 'the agency's goal is to bankrupt you, make you quit, die, kill yourselves, or basically, preferably, all the above'
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) August 11, 2024BREAKING: Leaked government memo confirms whistleblowers were targeted by Border Agency after exposing federal DNA Collection law was not followed for immigration violations
Homeland Security whistleblowers claim American deaths “were preventable.”
Subscribe on X @C__Herridge pic.twitter.com/x9e6RjGJKH
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) August 11, 2024EXCLUSIVE: With the whistleblowers’ permission, we are releasing the internal government memo that found the border agency (CBP) “retaliated” against them after revealing "the agency’s intentional, decade-long failure to implement a law designed to protect public safety.”
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) August 12, 2024“Americans are dead and these deaths were preventable,” according to Homeland Security whistleblower Fred Wynn.⁰⁰Wynn blames the “prolonged, willful failure (of CBP) to comply” with the federal DNA collection law for illegal entries.
“I believe that to be statistically… https://t.co/riqc3mgefm pic.twitter.com/hcjExs5PTp
The memo said the retaliation included 'a significant change in duties, responsibilities and working conditions' and the agency did not offer them performance rewards.
'The actions were motivated by the agency's displeasure with the complainants' perceived and actual involvement in bringing to light the agency's intentional, decade-long failure to implement a law designed to protect public safety.'
The whistleblowers said they'd had their guns taken away and lost all career prospects almost overnight after they came forward about the lack of DNA collection they saw.
The whistleblowers first spoke out to the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. He first wrote to DHS in 2018upon receiving the legally protected whistleblower disclosures.
According to an internal Homeland Security directive obtained by Grassley, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 'is required to collect DNA samples from 'non-United States persons in detention for immigration violations.'
That policy is in compliance with the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005.
But Grassley discovered that some 70 percent of border encounters did not include the DNA collection required by law, and as many as 950,000 violent criminals went unidentified from 2010 to 2019.
That number has since skyrocketed, the whistleblowers believe.
'Americans are dead and these deaths were preventable,' according to Homeland Security whistleblower Fred Wynn.
The San Diego sector of the Border Patrol has become the busiest in the nation in recent weeks
Chinese migrants are among the nationalities entering the US in unprecedented numbers in the last year
In April, the San Diego region surpassed Tucson, which had been the nation's busiest, and fell to second with 31,219 border encounters. El Paso sector, which includes the West Texas city and all of New Mexico, rose to third with 30,393.
Wynn said he had no doubt that lack of enforcement of the policy 'may have been a contributing factor' to the August 2023 sexual assault and murder of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old Maryland mother.
The suspect had been linked to a home invasion prior to her murder.
'If due diligence was exercised in compliance with the law, DNA was collected, we would have known who we were looking for.'
The whistleblowers said no one had been demoted or disciplined for failing to comply with the DNA law. 'The only ones who have been disciplined are sitting right here.'
'I've had my law enforcement credentials firearm taken away from me, I've had my law enforcement retirement taken away from me, and we will tell you this in a law enforcement environment. environment, publicly, removing someone's firearm is the ultimate insult degradation,' said Taylor.
'I was basically iced left to sit at my desk every day, do nothing, but the most menial tasks, my future career options, because I was working in such a limited sphere. All that future potential vanished in a day,' said Wynn.
'Like Mr. Taylor. My firearm was taken, my credentials were taken, and it was the final straw, a final blow to a professional career, and what we did was we came forward. Not in 75 years or so of combined service have one of us even had a written or verbal disciplinary action.'
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green said his committee had confirmed that DHS had failed to collect DNA data from migrants.
'Instead of empowering Border Patrol agents and other CBP officials, Biden, Harris, and DHS Secretary Mayorkas have made it harder for DHS law enforcement to do its job, and retaliated against those who object. Investigative efforts by my Committee have also confirmed that CBP, under the Biden-Harris administration, simply is not concerned with collecting this vital DNA data, and Americans and vulnerable migrants are the ones who end up suffering the consequences,' he told DailyMail.com.
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