Border securityCBP rethinks budget cuts-related furloughs, over-time reductions
Facing mounting criticism by political leaders and law enforcement in border states, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has decided to delay the implementation of two-week furloughs and cuts to overtime hours to its employees. The furloughs were originally set to begin later this month, and some said that reduction in hours worked by front-line personnel would have reduced security along the border.
The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has decided to delay the implementation of two-week furloughs and cuts to overtime hours to its employees, according to a memo sent by the agency to its employees. The furloughs were originally set to begin later this month.
The Washington Post reports that the memo says that a provision in an appropriations bill, which was signed last week by President Barack Obama, “allows CBP to mitigate to some degree the impacts of the reduced budget on operations and on CBP’s workforce.”
Thomas Winkowski, the agency’s deputy commissioner, said that “in light of the new funding bill, we are re-evaluating previously planned furloughs and de-authorization of Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUO), and will postpone implementation of both changes pending that re-examination.
“We are doing everything we can to minimize these impacts on CBP employees and will keep you updated as we continue to assess the exact impact the legislation will have on our operations and on our workforce.” Some agents are skeptical of the agency leadership’s change of direction. “There’s not much to it,” Agent Paul Perez, president of National Border Patrol Council Local 3307, told the Post. “We definitely don’t know what they’re doing and we don’t trust them.
“It’s just on hold right now. They haven’t come out and said, ‘We’re not going to do it.’ They’re just looking at the budget more closely now,” Perez added. “There’s a lot of fat for them to trim elsewhere, and we hope they do so.”
According to Perez, border agents usually work ten hour work shifts, but without the administratively sanctioned overtime shifts – extra hours worked by front-line agents – border agents would be able to work only eight hour shifts. Perez said that this reduction in hours by front line personnel would reduce security along the border.
Shawn Moran, an official with the National Border Patrol Council, said the union “is cautiously optimistic about CBP’s decision to postpone furloughs and the deauthorization of AUO. We do have a well-founded fear that CBP will not do the right thing, though, and ultimately make a decision that will leave the border in an insecure state.”
Some sources toldFox News, however, that a recent surge in illegal border crossings contributed to the re-examination of thefurloughs decision by CBP, especially as the Senate nears a final proposal on immigration reform, a proposal which is conditioned on secure borders.
Still, the agency must find ways to cover a $250 million shortfall this fiscal year as a result of the sequester.
