A U.S. Border Patrol agent instructs immigrant families as they prepare to board transport to a … [+]
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Will Border Patrol agents quit when the federal government requires them to be vaccinated? That’s the question raised by the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal workers and the pushback from Border Patrol agents. During an interview on Fox News, the wife of one Border Patrol agent said she hoped for “a miracle” to save her husband’s job. The Fox News anchor, who was sympathetic, left unsaid that the agent could keep his job if he chose to be vaccinated. The Border Patrol union concedes the Department of Homeland Security is on solid legal ground in requiring federal employees to take the Covid-19 vaccine, but that doesn’t mean all the agents like it.
Background: On September 9, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that, among other things, mandates federal employees to be vaccinated. The order states: “Sec. 2. Mandatory Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Each agency shall implement, to the extent consistent with applicable law, a program to require Covid-19 vaccination for all of its Federal employees, with exceptions only as required by law.”
According to a section on the DHS website labeled Mandatory Vaccine Deadlines, “To be considered ‘fully vaccinated’ an employee must have their second Moderna or Pfizer vaccination, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccination, 14-days prior to Nov. 22, 2021.”
The DHS website makes clear the intention of the executive order: “The below table provides the ‘no later than’ dates federal employees must receive their vaccinations in order to meet the mandated deadline. The timing between your first and second shots depends on which vaccine you received.” The…