The Nation reports that last week the Trump administration “quietly” designated Customs and Border Protection a “Security Agency,” which puts it “under the same designation as highly secretive intelligence and law enforcement agencies like the FBI and Secret Service. This grants CBP greater secrecy by exempting certain records from disclosure to the public.” When the U.S. has paid out more than $60 million over a decade to settle deaths, assaults, and wrongful detention at the hands of border agents, this is one of the last agencies in the federal government that deserves one additional ounce of secrecy.
A 2018 examination by The Guardian of treasury payment records and court documents found that the federal government paid more than $9 million to the families of at least 20 people who died at the hands of border agents since 2003, “in incidents including shooting, beating, use of Tasers and collisions with vehicles.” But by far the largest amount—more than 1,300 settlements totaling nearly $47 million—had gone to “damages resulting from alleged reckless driving by border agents,” some of which resulted in maiming.
More recently, advocates with the ACLU Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties and the ACLU Border Rights Center filed a complaint with the Homeland Security inspector general documenting abuse of pregnant people in CBP custody. “For example,” the groups said, “one pregnant woman said she was repeatedly slammed against a chain link fence by a Border Patrol agent. Another woman said she experienced a miscarriage while detained in a Border Patrol facility for 12 days, but did not receive any hygienic products or medical care.” So is this the kind of stuff officials are trying to keep secret?
The memo, signed by acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan, reportedly stated “I am pleased to announce CBP has been designated as a Security Agency under Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) official Data Release Policy, effective immediately. Previously, only frontline law enforcement, investigative, or intelligence positions held this designation. This policy change now protects all CBP employee names from subsequent responses to Freedom of Information Act requests or other public disclosures for CGP employee data.”
The Nation reports that it obtained the memo from a CBP contractor, who “requested anonymity to avoid professional reprisal. The contractor was critical of CBP’s new classification, saying, ‘Designating all of CBP a Security Agency exempt from OPM’s disclosure policy is simply absurd. There’s no need for the average CBP employee to have their name and position redacted from FOIA requests. This is another example of the current administration making it even more difficult to obtain pertinent information via official channels and claiming it’s related to security in some way.’”
Elected officials quickly responded to the report. “The Customs and Border Protection agency will now have increased ability to hide their egregious actions from the American people. This new designation is a threat to critical oversight and due process,” tweeted Connecticut U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. “So … CBP claims that hiding even more info from FOIA and public view is necessary because someone was publicly posting info that was ... ALREADY publicly posted?” tweeted Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy. “CBP: you’ll need a MUCH better reason for this sweeping secrecy directive. I’ll be asking.”