[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 203 (Monday, December 11, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5888-S5889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Whistleblowers

  On another subject, Mr. President, I come to the floor to bring 
attention to three brave Department of Homeland Security 
whistleblowers: Mark Jones, Mike Taylor, and Fred Wynn.
  These three whistleblowers came to my office to report retaliation 
and government misconduct. People like this, I say they ought to be 
considered heroes, instead of like skunk at a picnic, as sometimes 
whistleblowers are treated by our bureaucracy. The retaliation that 
they told me about has been extensive and long enduring.
  In 2018, these whistleblowers made legally protected disclosures to 
the Office of Special Counsel and Customs and Border Protection. They 
legally disclosed information about delays and the failure to collect 
DNA from detained illegal immigrants based on the DNA Fingerprint Act 
of 2005 and subsequent regulations.
  An August 21, 2019, letter from the Office of Special Counsel to the 
President substantiated these whistleblowers' disclosures, stating:

       The agency's noncompliance with the law has allowed 
     subjects subsequently accused of violent crimes, including 
     homicide and sexual assault, to elude detection even when 
     detained multiple times by [Customs and Border Protection] or 
     Immigration and Customs Enforcement. . . . This is an 
     unacceptable dereliction of the agency's law enforcement 
     mandate.

  I don't know how you can get a stronger statement from a nonpolitical 
division of our government about information not being properly used to 
stop wrongdoing.
  After making their protected disclosures, all three whistleblowers 
were retaliated against. That gets back to my ``skunk at a picnic'' of 
how whistleblowers are treated by the bureaucracy. They aren't treated 
as the patriots they ought to be treated as. All they want the 
government to do is what the government is supposed to be doing, what 
the law requires, and how the money should be spent.
  From February 2018 to the present, Customs and Border Protection 
officials subjected these whistleblowers to significant changes in 
duties, responsibilities, and working conditions. That is how you get 
treated if you are a whistleblower.
  After harsh retaliation, Fred Wynn left Customs and Border 
Protection's Office of Intelligence to work for the U.S. Border Patrol 
doing management and program analysis work.
  Mr. Jones and Mr. Taylor didn't receive a performance award any year 
after their disclosures, for the first

[[Page S5889]]

time in all of their employment at Customs and Border Protection. They 
had an overall reduction in pay and have been removed from their 
supervisory positions, negatively impacting promotional opportunities--
once again, like a skunk at a picnic.
  The Office of Special Counsel also identified an intentional 
nonpromotion for Mr. Jones. Additionally, Customs and Border Protection 
removed credentials, law enforcement authorities, firearms, and law 
enforcement retirement coverage for Mr. Taylor and Mr. Jones. The 
removal of one's firearm and one's credentials is the ultimate act of 
personal and career retaliation against Federal employees.
  I have been told that Mr. Jones and Mr. Taylor discovered that one 
senior official who was aware of their ongoing retaliation refused to 
commandeer their firearms and credentials without a letter from senior 
officials--another person retaliated against.
  Customs and Border Protection officials refused to provide the 
letter. The senior official who refused to participate in this 
retaliatory scheme then was involuntarily transferred out of his law 
enforcement position and stripped of premium pay in July of this year. 
So another person was retaliated against.
  The Office of Special Counsel said its investigation supports a 
conclusion that government action against these three whistleblowers 
constituted a prohibited personnel practice. To put it plainly, the 
government violated Federal law and retaliated against these three 
brave whistleblowers.
  On August 18 of this year, I sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas and 
the current head of the Customs and Border Protection, Troy Miller. I 
asked what they have done to correct the retaliatory actions and take 
disciplinary action against the retaliators. As you might expect, both 
have failed to respond, which is not uncommon, after telling Congress--
when these people come up for confirmation, we always ask them: Will 
you answer our letters, answer our phone calls? Will you come and 
testify before Congress? They always say yes. In the end, I tell them: 
Maybe to be honest, you ought to say maybe.
  But instead of responding to Congress, Mr. Miller's Customs and 
Border Protection provided a public comment to the New York Post on 
August 22. It said this:

       The Office of Special Counsel . . . terminated its 
     investigation into these claims without issuing a Prohibited 
     Personnel Practice Report or seeking corrective action.

  The Office of Special Counsel told my staff multiple times that they 
did, in fact, seek corrective action with Customs and Border 
Protection. Customs and Border Protection's public comment is, then, a 
lie, or demonstrably false.
  On September 11 of this year, I sent a followup letter to further 
address their failures to protect these whistleblowers and demand a 
public retraction. Secretary Mayorkas and Mr. Miller failed to respond. 
But, again, Customs and Border Protection provided a public comment to 
the New York Post, saying about my letter: ``This is a 
mischaracterization of this issue based on incomplete records, and we 
are unable to comment further based on open litigation regarding these 
cases''--something bureaucrats regularly hide behind, with a quotation 
like that.
  On September 27 of this year, I wrote another letter to Secretary 
Mayorkas and Mr. Miller demanding they explain their second inaccurate 
public comment. Customs and Border Protection, but not the Department 
of Homeland Security, provided a response on October 17.
  That letter said:

       The Office of Special Counsel didn't issue a final report 
     finding a prohibited personnel practice and didn't initiate 
     corrective action litigation before the Merit Systems 
     Protection Board . . . on the petitioners' behalf.

  Did anyone catch that distinction? The public comment said 
``corrective action.'' The letter said ``corrective action 
litigation.''
  Corrective action can take many forms and doesn't always include 
litigation--for example, negotiating with the parent Agency to put a 
whistleblower in a position they were in before retaliation occurred. 
Customs and Border Protection attempted a sleight of hand. That sleight 
of hand has failed. The Customs and Border Protection letter makes 
clear its public comments were false, and they were the ones to offer 
mischaracterizations to the public.
  Secretary Mayorkas has failed to take action despite my oversight 
efforts. Mr. Jones, Mr. Wynn, and Mr. Taylor are still struggling from 
the many acts of retaliation that have been taken against them for 
speaking up to protect Americans. But this Senator won't stop fighting 
for them and the dozens of other whistleblowers who have come to my 
office. There must be accountability for what has happened to these 
patriotic Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.