Congressional members interviewed by the newspaper said they were unaware until recently that Border Patrol agents were required to file Significant Incident Reports - normally used for shootings and other serious border incidents - when congressional members made unannounced visits in the summer along the U.S.-Mexico border.
A second document obtained by the paper reveals that one agent was suspended for 10 days without pay for speaking with Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who made an unannounced visit to the border in May.
"Preventing Congress from speaking freely to federal employees violates at least two federal statutes, and agents are fearful of telling the truth," said King, who recounted several visits to the Mexican border when Border Patrol agents would not speak with him for fear of reprisal.
"Filing these reports is a form of intimidation. If anyone is going to be punished, then they should be punished for not speaking to a member of Congress, rather than for telling the truth."
...In a May 10 memo, "SIR for Visiting Congressmen," Clint Stoddard, special operations supervisor and a Tucson (Ariz.) Sector commander with Customs and Border Protection, notified all supervisors to set new standards for reporting Border Patrol agents who have any encounters with visiting congressmen. The policy is in effect nationwide.
"Recently, Iowa Congressman King visited the border area," the memo states. "An IIR (local report) was done on one of two contacts with our agents. A request was made by HQOBP (Headquarters of Office of Border Patrol) to elevate these types of contacts to an SIR (Significant Incident Report). Sensitivities are such that this type of information is critical in the D.C. area. Much is going on in the way of legislation proposals and such.
Immigration · Wed, 09/27/2006 - 10:45 · Importance: 1
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Comments
Sounds like censorship to me. And it sounds like a coverup for homeland security. Another way to keep the borders open to illegal immigrants who work for Big Business. What a bunch of garbage. The government must think we are stupid, but we aren't.
I am tired of our government. I heard somewhere that the U.N. wants to ban guns in the U.S. to make our citizens defenseless. I used to be a democrat but now I am a conservative independent because the Repubicans are just as bad as the Democrats on illegal immigration policy. Please protect ou country.
Posted by: Erle at Sep 28, 2006 10:33 AM
I can't help but wonder what was the name of the supervisor who suspended the agent for 10 days. What was the name of the supervisor who established this policy? Some adverse publicity of this sort might lead to a welcome change in the policy.
Posted by: dchamil at Sep 27, 2006 10:54 PM
On the surface, it looks to me like the suspension of 10-days is a violation of the whistleblower laws. It's beginning to look as if the chief of Homeland Security, Chertoff may bet raked accoss the coals for this one. The Justice Department, with its priority on punishing BP agents over drug dealers and the suspensions mentioned in the article are strong indicators of the underlying vicious resistance to enforcing the law by the Executive Branch by punishing federal employees who do their jobs.
Posted by: George at Sep 27, 2006 1:21 PM