A U.S. Border Patrol agent instructs immigrant families as they prepare to board transport to a … [+]
Will Border Patrol agents quit when the federal government requires them to be vaccinated? That’s the question raised by the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal workers and the pushback from Border Patrol agents. During an interview on Fox News, the wife of one Border Patrol agent said she hoped for “a miracle” to save her husband’s job. The Fox News anchor, who was sympathetic, left unsaid that the agent could keep his job if he chose to be vaccinated. The Border Patrol union concedes the Department of Homeland Security is on solid legal ground in requiring federal employees to take the Covid-19 vaccine, but that doesn’t mean all the agents like it.
Background: On September 9, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that, among other things, mandates federal employees to be vaccinated. The order states: “Sec. 2. Mandatory Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Each agency shall implement, to the extent consistent with applicable law, a program to require Covid-19 vaccination for all of its Federal employees, with exceptions only as required by law.”
According to a section on the DHS website labeled Mandatory Vaccine Deadlines, “To be considered ‘fully vaccinated’ an employee must have their second Moderna or Pfizer vaccination, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccination, 14-days prior to Nov. 22, 2021.”
The DHS website makes clear the intention of the executive order: “The below table provides the ‘no later than’ dates federal employees must receive their vaccinations in order to meet the mandated deadline. The timing between your first and second shots depends on which vaccine you received.” The table informs DHS employees to be fully vaccinated they must receive the Johnson & Johnson shot by November 8, 2021, the Moderna first shot by October 11 and the second shot by November 8, and the Pfizer first shot by October 18 and the second shot by November 8.
In response to a request for comment about personnel actions related to the vaccine mandate, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson said, “CBP follows guidance from the White House and DHS with respect to vaccination requirements for federal employees as provided in the President’s Executive Order and per the DHS webpage you referenced.”
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The Union’s Position: “On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order (EO) mandating all executive branch federal employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19,” according to the National Border Patrol Council. “From the moment the EO was issued, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) instructed its seven attorneys to drop all other matters to study the issue and develop strategies to attack the EO. After spending several days reviewing all pertinent laws, to include all relevant case law, our attorneys determined the EO was legal and that there was no viable avenue of challenge.
“We, the NBPC executive committee, felt it would be better to seek other opinions from law firms specializing in suing the government prior to drawing a final conclusion. To date, we have not found a reputable firm, nor any other firm, or legal opinion that provides us a legitimate path forward. . . . Because we have a legal duty to present honest information, we did not release a statement after receiving the initial opinions from our in-house attorneys, nor did we release a statement after seeking outside counsel. We also do not want to give false hope as we have not found a legitimate avenue or legal argument of challenge to date. Until we are 100% convinced that no legal remedy is available, we will continue working on the issue.” (Emphasis added.)
The union added, “While we continue to search for legal avenues of reprieve, we have tasked our attorney who specializes in Equal Employment Opportunity matters to lead our legal division to provide exact and concise information on filing a religious or medical exemption.”
The union posted on its website guidance on religious accommodation requests. However, it is unclear how the Department of Homeland Security will address those requests. “No major religions have publicly opposed Covid-19 vaccination,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle, discussing employment law. “Some religious leaders have even endorsed it [vaccination]: Pope Francis called getting vaccinated ‘an act of love,’ and rabbis in Orthodox Jewish communities across the country have urged their followers to take the vaccine. In some instances not related to the coronavirus, an expression of belief can prohibit a medical intervention. Jehovah’s Witnesses, for instance, do not allow blood transfusions, so followers can reject that procedure. (The faith says it is not opposed to the Covid-19 vaccine.) The Christian Science church leaves the vaccine decision up to its individual members, while Seventh-day Adventists encourage getting the shot.”
The National Border Patrol Council did not respond to requests for additional comment on the vaccination mandate.
Will Border Patrol Agents Be Vaccinated, Be Fired or Quit?: It is not known how many Border Patrol agents will follow through on threats to quit. United Airlines mandated vaccinations for its employees, and “Nearly all of United’s 67,000 U.S. employees have been vaccinated,” reported the New York Times. Only 240 failed to comply with the company’s vaccine mandate, a vaccination rate for United employees of approximately 99.4%.
Border Patrol agents may come in contact with as many individuals on a weekly basis as a typical airline employee. Vaccinated Border Patrol agents are less likely than unvaccinated agents to become infected with Covid-19 and infect other Border Patrol personnel and people expelled from (or released in) the United States. That could limit the spread of Covid-19 in the U.S. and other nations.
Given the difficulty in retaining personnel over the years, if Border Patrol agents quit or are fired because of the vaccine mandate discerning the impact might be difficult. “For years, more Border Patrol agents have left their jobs than Customs and Border Protection (CBP), its parent agency, was able to replace,” reported Frontline in January 2020.
A Lack of Legal Visas Makes Border Patrol Jobs Difficult: Historically, the only effective way to reduce illegal entry significantly is through legal work visas. When the Bracero program was liberalized in the 1950s, Border Patrol apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border dropped by 95%. (Apprehensions are a proxy for illegal entry.) At a hearing, when a member of Congress asked an INS official what would happen to illegal immigration if the Bracero program ended, he said, “We can’t do the impossible, Mr. Congressman.”
Border Patrol agents are asked to do the impossible. Soon the only Border Patrol agents doing the impossible are likely to be vaccinated.
