Border vax-ax threat outrage
Firing unvaxxed
Two congressional Republicans say they have learned from a whistleblower that the Biden administration is warning Border Patrol agents they will be fired unless they receive a COVID vaccination by November — even as illegal immigrants crossing into the United States don’t have to get the shot.
Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Tom McClintock of California sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warning him that failure to support the federal law-enforcement officials will “only make the Biden border crisis worse and make our country less secure.”
“It is simply unbelievable that the Biden Administration will allow COVID-positive illegal aliens to surge across the border but will terminate dedicated law enforcement officers who do not comply with Biden’s mandate,” said the letter, posted on the House Judiciary Committee’s Twitter account and dated Tuesday.
The two lawmakers, both committee members, said they hope Mayorkas will see the “error in this decision” for the safety of the country and support the “heroes of CBP [Customs and Border Protection] who put their lives on the line every day.”
Jordan and McClintock urged the DHS secretary to “find reasonable accommodations for CBP officers who do not choose to comply with this mandate for personal and medical reasons.”
The president on Sept. 9 signed an executive order requiring federal employees to be vaccinated or be terminated.
“It has come to our attention that the men and women of the CBP have been given official notice that they must be fully vaccinated by November 2021 or face termination,” the letter said.
Jordan and McClintock said the requirement will only make it harder to recruit and train men and women for the Border Patrol.
“The locations of the job are typically remote and the job is often dangerous and hard. Their job is made even harder when senior officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, spread false accusations of cruelty — as has occurred in recent days to mounted officers in Del Rio,” the letter said.
“Citing the misinformation about cruelty, President Biden even vowed the Border Patrol officers ‘will pay,’ ” they continued.
They were referring to the administration’s reaction to images that appeared to show mounted Border Patrol agents using reins as whips against Haitian migrants.
The El Paso Times published a clarification noting that the agents weren’t using whips. And the photographer who took the shots acknowledged that the images could be “misconstrued,” adding that he’s never seen the agents “whip anyone.”
United Airlines is preparing to fire almost 600 employees who failed to comply with the company’s COVID-19 vaccination policy by the Sept. 27 deadline, company executives told employees Tuesday.
United was one of the first major US companies to announce a vaccine mandate for its 67,000 US employees, the overwhelming majority of whom have complied.
“And we know for some, that decision was a reluctant one. But there’s no doubt in our minds that some of you will have avoided a future hospital stay — or even death — because you got vaccinated,” United’s CEO, Scott Kirby, and the company’s president, Brett Hart, told employees in a note Tuesday.
The 593 employees who didn’t get the shots and are in violation of the mandate can still save their jobs by getting vaccinated during their official termination proceedings, the Chicago-based airline said.
“We will work with employees if, during this process, they decide to get vaccinated,” a spokesperson said, adding that the airline is now beginning proceedings.
The airline previously said staff who sought such exemptions would be placed on temporary unpaid leave starting next month, prompting six employees to sue, alleging discrimination. A hearing is set for Oct. 8.
United did not provide a breakdown of the kinds of employees who haven’t yet been vaccinated, but nearly 400 workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers had not uploaded proof of vaccination by Tuesday, District 141 President Mike Klemm told CNBC.
The union represents more than 25,000 United employees.
Klemm said the union plans to file wrongful termination grievances if the workers who refused to be vaccinated are fired, according to the outlet.
While all of the nation’s major airlines have encouraged employees to get vaccinated, United is one of the few to mandate it.
Delta previously announced plans to impose a $200 monthly surcharge on unvaccinated employees’ company health care costs starting in November.
Alaska Airlines and American, along with Delta, have said unvaccinated employees will have to tap their own sick time if they get infected with COVID-19 and miss work.
President Biden announced earlier this month that his administration will mandate that companies with over 100 employees require their employees get vaccinated or have them test regularly for the virus.