Greg Steube: “This amendment is in keeping with the clear hostility with which the majority views the men and women of U.S. Customs…”

“This amendment is in keeping with the clear hostility with which the majority views the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including the Border Patrol agents who have put their lives on the line to effectuate over 3,800 migrant rescues so far this fiscal year and the officers of field operations who are in peril each day when they search vehicles and pedestrians for dangerous and deadly narcotics like fentanyl. The amendment requires quarterly publication of complaints of sexual abuse in CBP facilities. Of course, preventing sexual abuse in any government facility is an extremely important endeavor, but this amendment does not do that. Instead, it requires premature publication of mere allegations without any context. The effect is the maligning of the men and women who serve on our border and at our ports of entry without doing anything to actually prevent such abuse. This amendment requires all complaints to be aggregated and published quarterly, regardless of whether an investigation is complete, regardless of whether the complaint was substantiated, and regardless of whether the victim was a CBP employee, contractor, or detainee. We will not know whether those complaints were ever substantiated or unsubstantiated pursuant to an investigation. We will not know whether those complaints were against CBP personnel, contracted staff, or against other aliens in the facility.…”