CBP demoted whistleblowers who revealed ‘decade-long failure’ to collect criminal DNA: docs
By Josh Christenson
Published Aug. 29, 2023
Updated Aug. 29, 2023, 10:53 p.m. ET
US Customs and Border Protection retaliated for years against three whistleblowers who called out its failure to collect DNA from millions of detainees, allowing some violent criminals to evade justice for decades, a federal investigation found.
Fred Wynn, Mike Taylor and Mark Jones faced professional and financial consequences for spotlighting their agency’s refusal to comply with federal law enforcement rules for DNA collection on criminal arrestees since 2009, according to the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC).
“The agency’s noncompliance with the law has allowed subject subsequently accused of violent crimes, including homicide and sexual assault, to elude detection even when detained multiple times by CBP or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” Special Counsel Henry Kerner told then-President Donald Trump and Congress in letters on Aug. 21, 2019.
“This is an unacceptable dereliction of the agency’s law enforcement mandate,” added Kerner, who said that the trio claimed CBP had detained but not taken DNA from more than 5 million people over the previous decade.
https://nypost.com/2023/08/29/cbp-demoted-whistleblowers-who-revealed-dna-collection-failure/
