My message today is to the administration, and particularly to President Trump, who is very forcefully enforcing the immigration laws that were not enforced in the last administration.
[My] message [is] about bringing justice to some people that have been harmed by the previous administration.
On January 20 – President Trump’s first day in office – he signed an executive order called the Securing Our Borders Executive Order.
His executive order instructs the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to “fulfill the requirements of the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005.”
Now, that’s music to my ears, because I’ve been involved in that issue – in regard to the kids that have been lost in this system of immigration that the previous administration [wasn’t] able to follow.
So, I said, music to my ears.
For years, my oversight has sounded the alarm on the Border Patrol’s and the Department of Homeland Security’s failure to fully implement the 2005 DNA Fingerprint Act.
I have a lot of whistleblowers that come to me on different subjects.
Three whistleblowers – Mark Jones, Mike Taylor and Fred Wynn – disclosed to their superiors that the Department of Homeland Security wasn’t following the 2005 law. In other words, they were not fingerprinting the…people that they were supposed to be keeping track of.
Specifically, these whistleblowers disclosed the government wasn’t collecting the DNA from individuals encountered at the southern border like the law requires.
As you might expect – because it happens to so many whistleblowers – instead of being thanked for pointing out this failure, the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol officials retaliated against these whistleblowers.
That’s why you hear me say so often, that whistleblowers… love their country, they want to see their government just simply enforce the law. And then we find out, as I’m going to show you, how they’re treated like a skunk at a picnic.
Mr. Jones and Mr. Taylor had their law enforcement credentials removed, and after 30 years of federal service, Mr. Taylor lost his law enforcement retirement benefits.
All three were subject to harassment.
The Office of Special Counsel has the power to investigate, and did investigate, and substantiated their whistleblower disclosures and that retaliation occurred.
President Trump and this administration, moving so forcefully to see that the laws are enforced, ought to appreciate whistleblowers that are telling the truth about the government not carrying out the law.
In this case, I’m asking President Trump to immediately remedy the situation of these whistleblowers.
Last year – how I became acquainted with all of this, at least the details of it – I hosted an oversight roundtable with these whistleblowers.
The roundtable exposed that the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol failed to take the DNA of the individual charged with the tragic murder of Rachel Morin, despite having three opportunities to take those fingerprints.
Had the Biden-Harris Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol done their job, there’s a chance Ms. Morin would be alive today.
This executive action couldn’t come soon enough, and so that’s why I’m pleading with President Trump, or his staff, to follow up and make sure that justice is brought to these three whistleblowers.
The President is going to see that the law is enforced… because full compliance with the law will make our borders stronger and our citizens safer.
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