Border Patrol Agents Told to Get Vaccinated by November or Face Being Fired

A Border Patrol agent's vest in Eagle Pass on July 15, 2021. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

Border Patrol agents have been notified by the Biden administration that they must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 22 or face termination.

The notice comes on the heels of President Joe Biden’s Sept. 9 executive order that all federal employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19. However, the executive order doesn’t apply to members of Congress and their staff or U.S. Postal Service employees, although the latter group will be subject to weekly testing if not vaccinated.

In some cases, medical and religious exemptions are accepted, and The Epoch Times has learned that some border agents will be filing for an exemption.

House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote a strongly worded letter in opposition to the mandate to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“We have learned that the Department of Homeland Security has threatened to fire Border Patrol officials who refuse to comply with President Biden’s vaccine mandate,” Jordan wrote on Sept. 28.

“Your failure to support these federal law enforcement officials will only make the Biden border crisis worse and make our country less secure.”

Jordan said the mandate “risks reducing the already-depleted Border Patrol workforce in the middle of the unfolding border crisis.”

Border Patrol agents have been overwhelmed all year as the border crisis has escalated. Agents have apprehended upward of 1.5 million illegal aliens along the country’s southwest border so far this fiscal year.

A Border Patrol agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, told The Epoch Times that he and thousands of other agents are prepared to be fired come November.

“We took an oath to uphold the Constitution; to protect this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic,” he said.

“This is exactly the moment we’ve dedicated our lives to, the opportunity to stand tall, to stand firm for that which is good and right. To stand strong for freedom. The freedom to choose—whatever that choice is, it should be your own.”.

Several other agents have since told The Epoch Times that they’re expecting to be fired.

By contrast, the almost 15,000 Haitians that recently entered the United States illegally through Del Rio, Texas, after cramming into a squalid camp under the International Bridge, faced no COVID-19 testing or vaccination requirements.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Sept. 24 that COVID-19 vaccine requirements aren’t necessary for illegal immigrants because they’re “not intending to stay here for a lengthy period of time.”

More than 12,400 of the illegal aliens under the bridge in Del Rio were subsequently released into the United States.

The National Border Patrol Council notified its members on Sept. 18 that it had explored every legal avenue to challenge Biden’s vaccine mandate, but failed to find a “viable avenue of challenge.”

Representatives for the National Border Patrol Council didn’t respond by press time to a request for comment on any new action the organization plans to take against the vaccine mandate.