The Biden administration has instructed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to not use gendered pronouns such as “he,” “him,” “she,” and “her” when dealing with the public, according to an internal memo obtained by The Heritage Foundation.
“We just obtained [CBP] documents directing personnel to only use woke language when encountering individuals invading the United States,” the think tank’s Oversight Project said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The guidance from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asks CBP staff to use “gender-neutral language” and the “self-identified pronouns and name” of any members of the public they interact with.
“DO NOT use ‘he, him, she, her’ pronouns until you have more information about, or provided by, the individual,” the memo states. It also cautions against using salutations such as “Mr., Mrs. Ms., Sir, Ma'am.”
The memo notes that it is generally talking about “individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, non-binary, and gender nonconforming.”
“This guidance should be used by all CBP employees who encounter members of the public in the course of their job duties, including but not limited to law enforcement, trade, human resources, public liaisons, and others,” the memo states.
The memo goes on to make the point that some LGBT-identifying people may “define these terms differently.”
“Keep in mind that gender identity (sense of self) and sexual orientation (attraction) are separate and distinct; hence, transgender people, for example, may identify as heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual,” the memo also reads.
Amid a historic illegal immigration crisis at the southern U.S. border, the memo has been called an “unnecessary distraction” by a union leader.
“We can’t be worrying about whether we’re going to hurt somebody’s feelings,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd told Just the News on Nov. 21.
Mr. Judd said that the issue is not one of civil rights, but “simply a matter of preference” and about placating “the woke mob” instead of dealing with actual laws that CBP is charged with enforcing.
The guidance is “forced speech,” according to Mike Howell, the director of the Oversight Project, which obtained the memo.
“I guess it wasn’t enough for the Biden administration to betray the Border Patrol by purposefully unleashing chaos on the southern border,” Mr. Howell told Fox News. “Now, the radical political leadership is enrolling agents in a forced-speech program to call illegal aliens by their preferred pronouns.”
Furthermore, the members of the public that CBP staff most often interact with are migrants and illegal border-crossers, he said.
“Border Patrol deals with more illegal aliens than any entity in the federal government,” Mr. Howell said. “This forced language guidance is designed to coddle illegal aliens.”
The memo has been blasted by the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) as an insult to those grappling with the border crisis.
“Border Patrol agents are crying out for tools and policies that will help them do their jobs but are being handed manuals on misgendering instead,” Mr. Green told The Daily Wire. ”This makes a mockery of those who are doing their best to keep our borders secure.”
Mr. Green compared the memo’s requests with the reality of the border crisis, noting that “criminal illegal aliens” have been “released into our country on [DHS] Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s watch.”
At the same time, he said the committee has watched with apprehension as “a record number of individuals on the terrorist watchlist” were likewise allowed to enter the United States after being processed by border agents.
He attributed this, “in large part,” to CBP agents’ being “so overwhelmed by this unprecedented crisis.”
“I’m sure, however, Americans will be comforted to know that those agents are now being trained on which pronouns these bad actors prefer,” he said.
The Epoch Times contacted the DHS for comment but received none by press time.
Last year, when announcing new measures for transgender people traveling, Mr. Mayorkas touted the Biden administration’s commitment to gender identity policies, which he said are about treating everyone with respect “regardless of gender identity.”
