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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Brian Babin (TX-36) and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21) led their colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden expressing concern over the impact that his authoritarian vaccine mandates will have on our national security and on Border Patrol agents already suffering from declining morale.

In the letter, the lawmakers note that a record number of illegal border crossings at the southern border have forced Border Patrol agents into no-notice deployments, disrupting agents’ families and burdening agents with a crisis created by this administration’s failed policies. 

This is also leaving several portions of the border – including the northern border – understaffed and inadequately protected. Now, many Border Patrol agents face losing their jobs due to authoritarian vaccine mandates. The consequences of which could prove fatal to America’s security.

“Thanks to the Biden administration, our southern border is on a path to extinction,” said Babin. “Biden’s top priority should be ending the border crisis, but instead, he’s threatening to terminate our already overwhelmed Border Patrol agents for their personal medical choices. This president would rather exacerbate the crisis, putting Americans and our national security at greater risk, than secure the border.”

“Joe Biden’s border crisis is impacting all states, including the North Country,” Stefanik said. “I have heard from several of my constituents who work to protect our northern border, but who have been displaced from their homes to work long hours to fight Joe Biden’s crisis on the southern border. Instead of rewarding them for their service, this administration is threatening to terminate our Border Patrol agents who wish to make their own medical decisions. I am proud to stand with our Border Patrol agents, who work to secure our borders and keep our nation safe.”

"After months of crisis and utter chaos at our Southern border, Agents across the country are at a breaking point,” said Brandon Judd, President, National Border Patrol Council. “The Biden Administration's self-inflicted crisis has destroyed standard border security operations nationwide and has led to the forced deployment of Agents from all over the country, leaving an already understaffed agency unable to appropriately secure our Southern and Northern borders. Add to this the demonization of Agents by the far left, just for doing their jobs, and now a vaccine mandate that undermines our personal freedoms and it should be no surprise that morale among rank-and-file Agents is at its lowest point ever. President Biden's vaccine mandate could not come at a worse time. After years of attrition and critically low staffing levels, and in the midst of a historic crisis at our Southern border, the potential for mass resignations and terminations directly caused by the vaccine mandate will mean an open border and a less secure homeland. Border Patrol Agents are entrusted to protect our homeland from ever growing threats such as deadly narcotics, dangerous criminals and potential terrorists, yet these same Agents are not trusted by President Biden to make decisions about what goes into their bodies. Sadly, this irony comes in addition to the utter hypocrisy in President Biden’s mandate for Border Patrol Agents when the illegal border crossers we apprehend everyday are then released into communities across the country without a similar mandate. To Congresswoman Stefanik, Congressman Babin, and all the House Republicans who continue to fight against this mandate, thank you for your tireless efforts and unwavering support for border security.”

In the letter, the lawmakers specifically request President Biden provide a suspension of COVID-19 vaccine mandates for Border Patrol agents, available data on Border Patrol agents vaccination rates and natural immunity, steps the Biden administration is taking to protect agents and other Americans from COVID-19 exposure due to infected illegal immigrants, and a determination of the impact of mass-termination of Border Patrol agents on our national security.

Read the full letter here or below:

November 1, 2021

President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden,

We have serious concerns about your vaccine mandate for Federal employees[1] and how it will impact the already understaffed and overworked United States Border Patrol and our overall national security. Given your administration’s open border policies and failure to invest in adequate border security, we are facing the worst border crisis in our nation’s history—a crisis that will only be exacerbated by your vaccine mandate.

Our patriotic Border Patrol agents serve on the front lines of the chaos you created, protecting America’s sovereignty, and providing humanitarian and life-saving services to illegal migrants. These brave men and women face dire threats every day from violent drug cartels and human traffickers while carrying out their duties, including being caught in cross-border gunfire originating from inside Mexico[2]. Further, we have heard from countless agents across the country who have been forced into no-notice deployments to the southern border to help manage your self-inflicted crisis. These deployments are disruptive to Border Patrol agents’ families and leave other critical portions of our borders—which are already dangerously understaffed—overwhelmingly unprotected.

Despite these staffing issues, thousands of Border Patrol agents are at risk of losing their jobs because of your ill-conceived policy. This mandate is wholly incongruent with the principles of individual choice and medical freedom, puts families in our districts at risk of financial ruin, and threatens our national security by flooding our communities with undocumented, unvetted migrants.

With a record number of illegal border crossings this year and no end in sight, terminating Border Patrol agents for their choice not to vaccinate against Covid-19—when many Border Patrol agents have a more effective natural immunity—is not only irresponsible, but is a dereliction of your duty as Commander-in-Chief. We immediately request the following actions and information related to your Federal vaccine mandate and the U.S. Border Patrol:

• An immediate suspension of Covid-19 vaccine mandates for Border Patrol agents, or any first responder tasked with securing our borders and addressing the ongoing border crisis;
• General available data on vaccination rates for Border Patrol agents, with respect to medical confidentiality, including the number of Border Patrol agents who have previously contracted Covid-19 and have natural immunity;
• Steps your administration is taking to protect Border Patrol agents from Covid-19 exposure while carrying out their duties, as well as protecting Americans from Covid-19 infected immigrants being relocated into their communities;
• A determination of the impact of mass-termination of Border Patrol agents on our border security and your administration’s plan to address current and future staffing shortages at our nation’s borders.

The American people support the brave men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol and roundly reject your administration’s catastrophic open border policies. Sadly, while we have seen countless members of your own party malign our Border Patrol agents for years, punishing these agents for their personal medical choices would constitute a full-frontal assault on our border agents and further reinforce your utter abandonment of our southern border.

We look forward to your prompt response to the aforementioned requests and urge you to immediately reinstate and enforce common-sense border security policies.

Sincerely,

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