The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has introduced a new directive for agents to adhere to progressive gender ideology when engaging with “members of the public.” These inclusive guidelines were disclosed in an internal memo acquired by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. As per the memo, agents are now instructed not to use “he, him, she, her” pronouns during initial interactions to avoid potential “misgendering” of individuals.
The memo, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), explicitly states, “DO NOT use ‘he, him, she, her’ pronouns until you have more information about, or provided by, the individual.” Oversight Project Director Mike Howell remarked that the “members of the public” primarily interacting with border patrol agents are often undocumented immigrants.
“Border Patrol deals with more illegal aliens than any entity in the federal government,” Howell said.
“This forced language guidance is designed to coddle illegal aliens.
“I guess it wasn’t enough for the Biden administration to betray the Border Patrol by purposefully unleashing chaos on the southern border,” Howell said.
“Now, the radical political leadership is enrolling agents in a forced-speech program to call illegal aliens by their preferred pronouns.”
The memo advises agents to prevent potential misgendering of individuals, particularly undocumented immigrants, by employing a universal greeting, such as “Good Morning” or “Good Evening” during the initial interaction.
“If an incorrect pronoun is used and corrected by the individual, acknowledge the oversight and use the correct pronoun,” the memo reads.
It “key terms” with include:
bisexual
gay
gender expression
gender identity
gender non-conforming
intersex
lesbian
non-binary
queer
questioning
sex assigned at birth
sexual orientation
transgender
transgender woman
transgender man
transitioning
“This job aid provides guidance to all CBP employees who interact with members of the public to help facilitate effective communication with the diverse public we serve, including individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, non-binary, and gender nonconforming (LGBTQI+),” the memo’s introduction reads.
The memo emphasizes that the provided guidance “should be used by all CBP employees” and acknowledges that the terms and definitions may not be universal. It highlights that LGBTQ individuals among illegal border crossers might interpret these terms differently, and the meanings may evolve over time.
Oversight Project Director Mike Howell expressed the view that CBP should focus on preventing illegal immigration and not be entangled in what he referred to as a “sick social experiment.” The memo’s release follows a previous report by Heritage’s Oversight Project regarding a similar gender pronoun guideline implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“All employees should be addressed [by] the names and pronouns they use to describe themselves,” the reported email to HHS employees stated.
The memo, distributed to all staff members, is part of the agency’s initiative promoting “Gender Identity and Non-Discrimination Guidance.” According to HHS, this guidance is designed to safeguard “employee rights and protections related to gender identity.”
