National Border Patrol Council Seeks Assistance

9/28/01

The existence of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), the union representing Border Patrol employees, is in dire jeopardy. It could be eliminated by the issuance of an Executive Order from the President of the United States, by the creation of a National Homeland Security Agency, or a combination of such actions. The law granting Federal employees the right to organize also allows the President to exclude employees who are "engaged in intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or security work which directly affects national security. Although the primary mission of the Border Patrol will not change in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, some people are using it as an excuse to try to eliminate the union that represents Border Patrol employees.

If the NBPC ceases to exist, Border Patrol employees will no longer have the right to bargain over working conditions and will lack union representation in discipline and adverse action cases. It is noteworthy that the Department of Justice has ordered a review of all adverse action cases involving terminations within the Immigration and Naturalization Service (I&NS) and the Border Patrol because employees are being reinstated at an extraordinarily high rate, indicating that such actions are clearly unwarranted. Without a union, many of these employees would be unjustly terminated.

Congress and the public would also be deprived of an invaluable source of accurate information about our Nation,s immigration policies if the union was eliminated. The I&NS has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to supply truthful information to the public and Congress. Most members of Congress are very familiar with the Miami District Krome Detention Facility episode in which the Service attempted to hide the truth, but was caught when the union representing those employees exposed the deception.

Please contact the White House and your Congressional representatives, and urge them to preserve our union. Also, please forward this message to as many of your friends, associates and relatives as possible and urge them to do the same.

A prepared message can be found on the NBPC Website (www.nbpc.net), or you can modify it, or create your own message.