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Meeks Leads NYC Delegation Letter to CBP in Response to Derisive Facebook Group

July 3, 2019

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Gregory W. Meeks led the following letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with the New York City delegation in response to reports on an online Facebook page where current and former CBP employees shared offensive and derisive material about migrants. Text of the letter below:

July 3rd, 2019

Kevin McAleenan
Acting Commissioner
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20229

Dear Acting Commissioner McAleenan:

We are deeply concerned by revelations of over 9,000 current and former employees of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection participating in a Facebook group where derogatory and racially offensive comments and content are shared. Some of the material suggests that these employees, whom have the public trust to look after refugees and migrants at our border, are dehumanizing these children and families. That content included jokes about the death of a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy.

Given reports of neglect and abuse at these facilities, observed by doctors, lawyers, reporters, and Members of this Congress, the workplace culture demonstrated by this page is not just inappropriate, it is dangerous to the welfare of children, women and girls, and others held in CBP facilities.

We ask the following questions:

  1. Does CBP have protocols for actively evaluating personnel of potential de-sensitization and/or racial and gender prejudice that could interfere with their duties?

  1. What efforts has CBP undertaken or will it take to address the potential culture of dehumanization in regards to migrants and refugees?

  1. What training does CBP personnel receive for upholding the standards of conduct of the agency outside working hours, and what mechanisms are in place when a breach of conduct occurs?

  1. How many reports were made to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General by migrants, health care professionals, NGOs, lawyers, and other concerned groups about inappropriate behavior by CBP personnel, both on or off duty, for each month and location between January 2017 and August 2019?

  1. We understand from reports that CBP has contacted the Department of Homeland Security to launch an investigation into staff associated with the Facebook page; aside of termination of personnel found to have violated standards of conduct, what if any actions are you prepared to take in order to address and remedy any damage associated with their behavior?

We await a prompt response to this letter.

Signed by Representatives Gregory W. Meeks, Eliot. L. Engel, Nita Lowey, José E. Serrano, Carolyn B. Maloney, Jerry Nadler, Nydia M. Velázquez, Yvette D. Clarke, Grace Meng, Hakeem Jeffries, Adriano Espaillat, Thomas Suozzi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Max Rose.