Tipsheet

CBP Whistleblower Reassigned Following His Oversight Testimony

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  July 21, 2023 2:45 PM

It's no secret that the Biden administration's border policy has been a boon to lawless cartels and devastating for Americans. Still, as Republicans in Congress work to get to the bottom of who made decisions and how policies were implemented has needed and benefitted from whistleblowers within the federal agencies charged with securing the United States, such as Customs and Border Protection. 

But now, in a new letter from House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN), it appears the Biden administrative may have engaged in retaliation against one CBP whistleblower who was revealing the truth about how President Biden and others in his administration have botched border policy.

"We write with deep concern that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials may have retaliated against a witness in a Congressional investigation,” Chairmen Comer and Green write in their letter to Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy A. Miller. "The Committees have received an allegation from a credible whistleblower with extensive experience in and knowledge of CBP personnel practices that — within hours of concluding a voluntary transcribed interview with the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Homeland Security on July 12, 2023, Gregory K. Bovino, Chief Patrol Agent of the El Centro Border Patrol Sector, was relieved of his command over the El Centro Sector and reassigned to a vague, indefinite, and temporary headquarters assignment."

Noting the "suspicious timing of the reassignment coinciding with Chief Bovino’s cooperation with a Congressional inquiry," the chairmen are now demanding that "CBP account for the current status of Chief Bovino’s employment and assignment within the U.S. Border Patrol, provide documents and communications relevant to any reassignment and the reasons for any related employment action, and brief the Committee on this matter."

As the chairmen emphasized in their letter, the "ability of Congress to receive truthful testimony about the activities of the Executive Branch is paramount to performing essential oversight functions necessary to inform the legislative process." 

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For that sort of oversight to be attainable, people working in the administration will need to feel able to talk to oversight officials such as Chairmen Comer and Green. But the seemingly retaliatory change to Bovino's duties would, presumably, have the effect of intimidating other potential whistleblowers and keeping them from speaking with Congress. 

"Any retaliation against witnesses who cooperate with Congressional inquiries will not be tolerated," the chairmen declared, "especially when that retaliation may have been committed by government officials."