I want to thank Senator Johnson for co-leading this roundtable, and he was also involved in the one we had a couple weeks ago.
I hope the public understands that Republicans are in the minority, so we can’thold formal committee hearings, because only chairmen of committees, which are Democrats, call those hearings.
So, these oversight roundtables are an important part of theinvestigation that we do through our respective offices.
Senator Johnson and I have a great deal of working cooperation for a lot of our investigations.
And for you who have taken time out of your busy schedule to be here as panelists, I want to thank you for doing that.
Three of our [panelists] today are, what we classify in an official way as whistleblowers: Mark Jones, Mike Taylor and Fred Wynn.
They’re patriots and, as I often have said about whistleblowers - whether it’s these three people or others, because I’ve been dealing with this for decades - bureaucracy tends to treat whistleblowers like skunks at a picnic.
Today we’re going to discuss issues of very significant importance. Public safety is the connection.
First, the government’s failure to follow the law and, second, retaliation against whistleblowers who alerted the government to those failures.
The DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005 requires federal law enforcement people and their agencies to do several things.
Law enforcement agencies are required to collect DNA from individuals who are arrested, facing criminal charges or are convicted and from certain detained noncitizens at the border.
These DNA samples are sent to the FBI database to assist and develop criminal investigations and leads for law enforcement.
For many years, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have failed to follow the law.
According to recent protected disclosures by these brave whistleblowers with us today, in fiscal year 2023 DHS and Border Patrol only collected DNA from 30 to 40 percent of 3.2 million individuals at the southern border.
Even more concerning, according to protected disclosures, there are locations at our southern border in which the required DNA collection isn’t even happening.
Now, my oversight of these issues goes back at least six years.
In November 2018, I wrote a letter to DHS regarding that department’s failure to collect DNA as required by law.
In 2020, the Trump administration made regulatory changes and required DNA collection take place as the law demands.
However, according to protected disclosures, federal bureaucrats put up roadblocks at each turn.
Then, [after] the Biden-Harris administration assumed power, they simply stopped pushing for full compliance and failed to follow the law.
Their noncompliance continues today.
In 2023, after receiving new whistleblower disclosures, I wrote a letter to the same Department of Homeland Security.
My letter included very precise, internal government data that clearly showed the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to follow the law.
The records also included FBI records that showed examples of illegal migrants who were connected to criminal cold cases after obtaining their DNA.
The crimes included homicide, burglary, assault on federal officers and sexual assault of minors.
Those records illustrate the importance of obtaining DNA at the border.
The Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Homeland Security has failed to respond to my letter.
On February 26 of this year, I wrote to DHS highlighting the Department’s failure to respond to my November 2023 letter, and requested an immediate response.
My letter again made public new whistleblower disclosures regarding CBP’s alarmingly low percentage of DNA samples at our border.
Again, I asked questions related to the Department’s DNA collection practices. Now to date, which should be no surprise, the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Homeland Security has again failed to respond.
The failure to collect DNA has real-life implications.
We need to know who’s coming to the United States and we need to know whether they’re connected to any crimes.
In other words, are they dangerous to our communities?
This is nota free-for-all.
The Office of Special Counsel even performed a review of these whistleblowers’ protected disclosures.
That review said, in part, “CBP has failed to fulfill its responsibilities under the law and in so doing has compromised public safety. The failure to collect DNA clearly inhibits law enforcement’s ability to solve cold cases and to bring violent criminals to justice.”
I want to further quote the Office of Special Counsel.
This office said, “The agency’s noncompliance with the law has allowed subjects subsequently accused of violent crimes, including homicide and sexual assault, to elude detection even when detained multiple times by Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This is an unacceptable dereliction of the agency’s law enforcement mandate.”
Well, take a look and study that.
An independent, third-party substantiates these allegations.
After making their protected disclosures, all three whistleblowers were retaliated against.
Retaliation that’s been extensive and long enduring.
From February 2018 through the present, DHS officials have subjected these whistleblowers to significant changes in duties, responsibilities and working conditions.
They’ve suffered an overall reduction in pay and have been removed from their supervisory positions.
These illegal actions by the government have negatively impacted promotional opportunities.
For example, the Office of Special Counsel identified an intentional non-promotion for Mr. Jones.
Additionally, in 2022, the Biden-Harris administrations’ Border Patrol removed credentials, law enforcement authorities and firearms from Mr. Taylor and Mr. Jones. This resulted in Mr. Taylor losing his law enforcement retirement benefits after 30 years of federal service.
The removal of one’s firearm and credentials is the ultimate act of personal and career retaliation.
The way DHS has treated these three courageous men is an absolute scandal.
The Office of Special Counsel said its investigation supports a conclusion that the government’s actions against these three whistleblowers constituted prohibited personnel practices.
More recently, Mr. Jones was subject to continued retaliation by the Biden administration.
Specifically, Mr. Jones and others within his office were asked to move to a different workspace.
When Mr. Jones arrived at his new workstation, he was the only employee without connectivity, power or phone access at his workstation, which lasted for over three weeks.
Secretary Mayorkas has failed cure the illegal actions against these three whistleblowers.
For me to put this as plainly as I can, the government has violated federal law, retaliated against three brave whistleblowers and continues to refuse to take corrective action.
It’s a complete disgrace. The supervisors need to be held accountable.
This senator won’t stop fighting for these whistleblowers.
My investigative efforts in this matter will continue.
Now, I turn to my friend Senator Johnson.
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