The National Treasury Employees Union said that while the
bill resulted in some positive provisions, it represented
a lost opportunity to extend law enforcement officer status
to CBP officers. An amendment do so failed along party
lines.
“We are hopeful that in the future, CBP officers will be
given full benefits and fair pay grade increases they
deserve,” said American Federation of Government Employees
president John Gage, adding, “The men and women who
comprise CBP put their lives on the line every day, yet
they are treated like second-class citizens.”
NTEU president Colleen M. Kelley welcomed a provision
put forward by Rep. King to require an in-depth study
of the impact of CBP’s “one face at the border” initiative,
which seeks to combine the work of legacy Customs Service,
Immigration and Naturalization Service and Agriculture
Department inspectors into a single position, something
Kelley said has resulted in a loss of expertise, training
and inspection coverage.
“There are specialized missions within CBP—each of which
requires dedicated skills, training, and experience—that
now are done by officers who are not trained in that
area,” Gage said.
