Very first ON FOX: Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford is contacting on U.S. Customs and Border Defense (CBP) to reverse class immediately after it lowered its coverage on previous marijuana use for Border Patrol agent recruits.
In a letter sent on Sunday to Troy A. Miller, senior official performing the obligations of the commissioner for CBP, the Republican asked him to “rescind this plan and restore the two-year lookback on marijuana utilization among Border Patrol recruits.”
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Lankford sounded the alarm on what he calls lax guidelines on drug use for Border Patrol. (Getty Illustrations or photos)
He billed that the cannabis policy’s reduction “undermines the security and integrity of the Border Patrol workforce and flatly contradicts Border Patrol’s mission to secure our country versus illegal medicine.”
The existing policy of CBP on earlier drug use bars candidates from getting utilized cannabis “inside the 90 days prior to software to perform for CBP.” It is unclear when this modify was applied. The senator’s workplace indicated the coverage shift from two several years to 90 days happened within just the past handful of months.
CBP did not deliver remark to Fox Information Digital by press time.
Lankford pointed out his staff was briefed by the agency last thirty day period on the policy’s amendment. According to him, CBP cited “confusion involving Federal law and state legislation in states the place cannabis has been legalized” in justifying the transform.
In accordance to the Nationwide Meeting of Condition Legislatures, legislation to control cannabis for non-healthcare purposes or grownup usage has been enacted in 24 states, as properly as two territories and Washington, D.C. The NCSL’s details was current Nov. 8, 2023.
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The border has turn into a sizeable challenge across the country heading into the November election. (Shaul Schwarz/Getty Pictures)
Lankford pointed out that the CBP is still a federal agency and as this kind of ought to “make sure its staff comply with federal law concerning the illicit or if not prohibited use of managed substances.”
As the position member of the Subcommittee on Governmental Functions and Border Management, he cited his position, noting the entity “retains jurisdiction around Federal selecting and border administration.”
Numerous states throughout the state have legalized marijuana. (AP Picture/Seth Wenig, File)
The Republican senator on top of that wrote that briefers for CBP indicated recruits who reveal past cannabis utilization in the course of polygraph assessments frequently also confess to “other disqualifying prison conduct.” Lankford remarked that the details is “not astonishing.”
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“Border Patrol’s key mission is to prevent the flow of illicit medicine and illegal immigration across our borders,” he said. He claims this is inhibited by the coverage improve and the prospective for recruits to have “paid a transnational legal corporation” is amplified.
Offered this possibility, Lankford claimed the decreased threshold for recruits’ past marijuana utilization “specifically contradicts” with the agency’s mission, and furthermore presents “regarding protection and integrity concerns.”
