Real leadership you cannot depend on.

It is great to have a “leader” with her priorities in the right place. During a video-conference session yesterday with agents and managers, Secretary Napolitano once again showed how out of touch she is with the rank-and-file employees who make DHS run.

In response to a question about the low morale problem in CBP, she answered with a laugh “My morale is high.” Her dismissive comment is simply stunning, but unfortunately, it is typical of the way she has run things.

Asked about her most memorable moment as DHS Secretary, she said something even more stunning. She said her most memorable moment as DHS Secretary was the time she threw out a first pitch at a Yankees game. This pretty much says it all. She revels in her “celebrity” while leading the largest law-enforcement agency in the history of this nation and the most memorable thing she has done is throwing a pitch at a baseball game. Not attending a funeral of a murdered agent, not meeting with the families of murdered agents, not anything to do with her job (outside her “celebrity” status), but throwing a pitch at a baseball game.

And please don’t think these were just spontaneous comments. All questions had to be submitted days beforehand so she could select the questions she wanted to answer. This was a scripted publicity stunt designed to show she is “connecting” with agents.

We have begged for real leadership in this Agency for years, and it’s become painfully apparent that nobody cares. It is more important to lie to the American people about how secure the borders are and to push for another amnesty program than it is to be a real leader of a law-enforcement agency.

NBPC representatives have attended musters and meetings with thousands of agents. We engage in the tough questions. We don’t hide behind some sort of imagined “celebrity” status. We don’t believe rank-and-file agents give one hoot about Napolitano throwing out some ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game. We care about border security, being allowed to do our jobs, being able to take care of our families, getting the equipment and support we need. And we continue to dream about having a real leader who we can respect and trust.

“I’m so tired of explaining myself to these idiots.”

The ICE Council recently filed a lawsuit claiming that the Obama Administration did not have the authority to arbitrarily halt deportations of a certain class of illegal aliens. Illegal alien cheerleaders, including DHS Secretary Napolitano, seemingly work harder to reward illegal aliens and coddle immigrants than they do to uphold the laws they are charged with enforcing. She and the Obama Administration think it is their duty to decide which laws to enforce and which laws to ignore. Eric Holder and DOJ also ignore laws they don’t like.

We hope this lawsuit is upheld. In light of the recent bombings in Boston it should be abundantly clear to most Americans that our current methods of coddling illegal aliens, allowing abuse of our immigration system by legal immigrants, and the promise of amnesty is a threat to the well being of Americans. Politicians have largely succeeded in fooling a large portion of Americans into believing that illegal immigration is not a crime (it is a crime – look up 8 USC 1325), that once anyone gets some sort of legal status in this country they somehow become immune from obeying our laws or being deported (“legal” aliens are supposed to abide by a strict set of rules and they are legally subject to deportation if they violate the terms of their status).

Being allowed to come into this country is a PRIVILEGE, it is not a RIGHT. It comes with RESPONSIBILITIES. Immigrants suspected of having terrorist connections, being a criminal or becoming a public charge should be tracked closely and DEPORTED if they violate the terms of their admission. Allowing Americans to be bombed, shot, raped, assaulted, robbed or victimized in any way by someone who should not be here is inexcusable. We support LEGAL immigration and we support holding immigrants accountable for their actions.

Read more about the ICE lawsuit here.

A pay reform plan being pushed by NBPC will offer better border security for the American people, savings for American taxpayers and income stability for Border Patrol agents.

We believe that a general agreement has been reached with the Agency to support the NBPC pay reform proposal. We believe this proposal is far superior than what the Agency was pushing for (elimination of AUO/FLSA and conversion to the LEAP system). We are not the FBI, ATF, DEA or similar agencies. Our jobs are much different. We mostly do patrol work, they do investigations. LEAP may work fine for them, but it doesn’t fit what we do.

We are linking an article (albeit a few days old) here. It isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s close. We have refrained from posting information lately because the information has been changing every day and sometimes multiple times in a day. We believe the numerous and conflicting stories being circulated were only serving to further confuse and frustrate our members. The NBPC pay reform proposal must be ratified by both houses of congress and signed into law, and we aren’t sure exactly how that may take place at this point in time (amendment to existing bill, etc.) but we are hopeful that it will get done. The NBPC and its lobbyists are working the issue. We need stability and an end to these incessant political attacks that have caused so much frustration and consternation lately.

Secretary Napolitano likes photo ops with uniformed managers (they are forced to stand with her and look official for the cameras – even though 99% of them don’t support her) and she likes to say that she has “worked the border for 20 years”. But the facts are that she has never worked one single day on the border. We hate to break the news, but flyovers and being helped up on a half-dead horse for a photo op is not “working the border”. She has never been in danger, never arrested anyone, never worked a midnight shift facing down armed thugs in extremely remote areas, never had to arrest over 100 people in a remote area by herself with backup miles away and she has never been a Border Patrol agent or any other real law enforcement officer.

Secretary Napolitano is simply selling a product. That product is called amnesty. Her press conferences belong on a late-night informercial. We recommend hiring a salesman with a thick British accent to further confuse the people watching since that seems to be a popular sales tactic the last few years. Salesmen must seem more knowledgeable or cute if they have a British accent. Maybe Secretary Napolitano can take a few classes and learn the British accent herself so that when she tries to sell herself as a hardened “law enforcement officer” with lines like “I’ve worked that border for 20 years.” and “I know every inch of that border.” people might actually find it believable. Those of us who know the real truth can only laugh though. “But wait, order now and get another dose of amnesty absolutely free. Just pay for processing, food stamps, welfare, education, incarceration, stolen identities, massive fraud, ESL classes and assorted other add-ons. Order in the next 15 minutes and as a special bonus we’ll include higher taxes, more unemployment and less security.”

We have been sold down the river, and we find it disgusting. We support LEGAL immigration. It’s called playing by the rules and doing things the right way. Selling America to millions of people who have no respect for us or our laws is a recipe for disaster.

See an interview of Local 2544 President Art Del Cueto here.

Congressman Barber has been a terrific ally for rank-and-file Border Patrol agents. He has proposed that congressional representatives cut their own pay 20% in a show of support for the pay cuts we are facing.

Congressman Barber always includes us in discussions on border issues and is genuinely interested in our opinions on topics that relate to border security and Border Patrol agents. We do not take this support for granted. Many politicians bypass us completely.

We would like to thank Congressman Barber for his continued support and concern for those of us working the front lines. We are not prone to praising politicians and we hold them accountable, but we also believe in informing everyone when a politician genuinely and consistently supports us.

Read an article on Congressman Barber’s proposal here.

Quite a gig if you can get it. GS-13 pay for this? We have a picture of the newest addition to Havre Sector’s management team. It’s the best picture we have of him at this point as he’s rarely seen outside his office during the midnight shift. As you can see, even before they could have a nameplate made for his office door, he taped up his window for privacy so he can take care of his “management duties”. He’s only seen outside his cave when he’s spewing out orders such as, “Make sure you come look me in the eyeballs at the end of shift”.

As a new probationary supervisor, he told the agents on his shift that he’s not going to make the same mistake the PAIC did by trying to be friends with the agents. He said he’s coming in “hard” and compared his relationship with his subordinates to that of a prison guard to inmates.  The hardened criminals at this prison guard’s new station are so unruly that Havre Sector has found it necessary to have a 4 to 1 (soon to be 3 to 1) prison guard to inmate ratio.

Is it any wonder why Havre Sector is chock-full of hard to fill stations?

Janet Napolitano claims she conducted a 2-day visit to the border areas of Douglas and Tucson “…to get ground truth.” Huh? Is this her new comedy routine? Is she auditioning for a spot on the Tonight Show? She is surrounded by yes men, she did not visit with rank-and-file agents, and during her tenure as DHS secretary she has not reached out to the Border Patrol agents’ union once. As in, never. But it’s only been 4+ years, so we’re certain she is getting around to it. Now that we know she wants “ground truth” we will be watching our phones very closely..

We wish, for once, that she would just call a spade a spade and admit that she came here to lie to the American people about how “secure” the border is and to push a shamnesty program to reward illegal aliens. Period. She does not want “ground truth” because it would get in the way of her political agenda. Or perhaps she just didn’t want to be confronted by angry Border Patrol agents who certainly would have questioned her about the border enforcement and pay cuts she has been pushing.

Notice, however, that she met with the police chiefs of Douglas and Benson, as well as the Cochise County sheriff. She no doubt assured them that millions in Operation Stone Garden money would keep flowing to local police departments since she is saving so much by cutting the salaries of Border Patrol agents. But trust her, she really will “secure the border” if everyone will just give her that shamnesty program she wants so badly to bring us all into the “21st century” and bring millions more illegal aliens “out of the shadows”. Simply nauseating.

Read more here.

After an extensive search and with the cooperation of the highest levels at OBP, the National Border Patrol Council has learned the method being used by the Agency to calculate AUO reductions and de-authorization.

We hesitated to put this out since it is classified, but we feel as though the public need to know outweighs any privacy concerns that an Agency official might have.

If any of us are prosecuted for exposing this information we are confident in our legal team and their ability to defend us.

Please click here to see the inner workings of DHS at the highest level.

The drone being used by CBP to detect activity at the border has shown that gotaways exceed what Janet Napolitano wants to admit. While she touts a “secure” border, rank-and-file agents know that it is not as secure as she would like to fool the American people into believing so that the Obama Administration can sell another shamnesty program.

There has been disbelief at times amongst agents that people like Napolitano can even keep a straight face when making statements that are patently false. Naplitano likes to say things like “the numbers are the numbers”, unless of course those “numbers” don’t line up with her agenda. Then the numbers are hidden and ignored.

Napolitano pressers about how “secure” the border is should be treated with the same amount of skepticism as Foghorn Leghorn lecturing a young chicken hawk on your TV screen on Saturday mornings. What you are seeing and hearing does not add up to reality.

Read an article on Vader stats here.

The ICE union has been very aggressive on matters of interest to their membership. They have been battered by bad leadership in DHS. Janet Napolitano has handcuffed them. Criminals thumb their noses at them while protected by politicians. ICE is lead by John Morton, who rivals David Aguilar in the bad leadership department. Morton is a puppet of the Obama Administration. He and Napolitano released thousands of criminals from prison and they are so arrogant that they refuse to provide the information describing what crimes the released criminals committed.

We hope the ICE union members appreciate the personal sacrifice that its leadership must endure to stay aggressive. Effective union leadership is under constant pressure to sell out its membership and cave in to upper management and politicians. It is a longstanding fact. Poor managers see strong union leadership as a threat to their kingdoms because they are insecure. Good managers see strong union leadership as an ally to help make things better.

DHS and CBP are riddled with very poor leadership. As always, it starts at the top. In this case, Janet Napolitano has always been more interested in catering to illegal aliens than she is in supporting the rank-and-file agents who make this agency go. She may jump on a half dead horse once in a while and pose for photographs while proclaiming her thorough knowledge of “every square inch of the border”, but it’s all for show. She has never arrested a soul, never carried a gun, never been placed in harm’s way and she gets away with constant lies to the American people about how “secure” the border is.

Keep up the good work ICE Council. An article on shamnesty can be read here.