Biden seeks funding to probe white supremacist beliefs at immigration
agencies
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[April 10, 2021]
By Ted Hesson and Mica Rosenberg
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden
called for funding to investigate complaints of white supremacist
beliefs at U.S. immigration enforcement agencies in his first budget
request to Congress on Friday, but officials offered no explanation for
what prompted his request.
The Biden administration is asking Congress to increase the funding
level for workforce oversight offices within U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to
$470 million, a 22% increase over the current level, for the fiscal year
that begins in October.
The additional funding would ensure that workforce complaints -
"including those related to white supremacy or ideological and
non-ideological beliefs" - are investigated quickly, according to a
summary of Biden's budget proposal.
It was unclear whether any specific incidents sparked the call for the
increased funding. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and
the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Representatives at the border patrol and ICE unions did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.
The Biden administration has made battling domestic extremism a
priority. An October 2020 DHS report said domestic violent extremists,
including white supremacists, pose "the most persistent and lethal
threat" to the United States.
Border patrol agents faced scrutiny in 2019 when media outlets exposed
racist and misogynistic comments posted to a private Facebook group for
current and former agents. Posts included jokes about the deaths of
migrants and sexually explicit comments referring to U.S. Representative
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat like Biden.
The budget summary released on Friday did not make a similar funding
request for the U.S. military, which has also faced concerns over white
nationalism and other extremism in its ranks. Defense Secretary Lloyd
Austin is under pressure to show progress fighting extremism after
current and former military service members were found to have
participated in a Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
John Sandweg, an acting ICE director under former President Barack
Obama, said while complaints should be investigated, Biden's decision to
single out CBP and ICE employees risks sparking opposition from agents
and officers.
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President Joe Biden is flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen as he receives the weekly economic
briefing in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S.,
April 9, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
"This type of language could create some concerns in the workforce
that there will be political ideological tests," Sandweg said,
adding that the specific language may change when the budget is
enacted.
Broadly increasing funding for the internal offices that probe
workplace complaints is a good idea though, Sandweg said.
'ROOTING OUT THE BAD APPLES'
Roy Villareal, a former chief patrol agent with the U.S. Border
Patrol in Arizona, said he was "disgusted" by Biden's decision to
single out his former agency.
Villareal, who retired in December, said he supports "rooting out
the bad apples" but said there was not widespread white supremacy
and racism at CBP.
Hispanics made up more than half of the Border Patrol workforce in
2016, according to DHS data.
Some advocacy groups have called for greater oversight of U.S.
immigration enforcement agencies, however.
In a February report, the Washington-based American Immigration
Council said the Border Patrol has been "steeped in institutional
racism" since its creation in 1924. The report detailed past
instances of agents using racial slurs, sexual comments and other
offensive language.
The White House budget proposal is a request of Congress to provide
funding in fiscal year 2022, which begins on Oct. 1, 2021. The
document reflects Biden's position on the spending, which will
ultimately need to be appropriated by Congress.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Mica Rosenberg in New
York, Editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)
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