Despite the recent surge in illegal border crossings in 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) will be hosting an “unconscious bias” training seminar for agency personnel, according to a CBP memo obtained by Fox News.
The seminar, titled “Better Together: A Conversation on Unconscious Bias,” will be hosted by USCBP’s “Task Force for Women,” according to the memo. The memo lists Susan Fleming as the keynote speaker, Fox News reported.
CBP officials, including acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller and Patrol Agent in Charge Reggie Johnson, will also be speaking. Miller and Johnson will discuss “the impact of stereotypes and unconscious biases in the workplace,” according to Fox News.
Despite attendance being optional for personnel, the seminar has received negative reactions from some within the agency, with one agent calling the training “more woke bullshit,” according to Fox News. (RELATED: Migrants Revolt Against Bus Driver, Try To Escape Border Patrol In Texas)
ROMA, TEXAS – JULY 01: Migrants are accounted for and processed by border patrol after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States on July 01, 2021, in Roma, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Vice President Kamala Harris visited in November the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The meeting between U.S. and Mexican leadership focused on the “root cause” of illegal immigration, despite the increasing numbers of Americans affected by drugs coming in from the southern border, as previously reported.
The current border crisis has also exacerbated human smuggling and trafficking. In response, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott initiated “Operation Lone Star” to combat human drug trafficking in the state, as previously reported.
Illegal immigrants “would run into our fences and they would run into our gates, just crash the gates trying to get away from DPS chases, from county chases, from Border Patrol chases doing a lot of damage and that was costing us a lot of money because we don’t get reimbursed for all that stuff. I mean they would tell you ‘yes, we’re gonna give you some money for your damages.’ No one ever gave anything,’” one store owner told the Daily Caller in an exclusive report.
The Rio Grande Valley sector of the border saw 100,000 illegal encounters since the start of October, which is a 163% increase since this time frame in 2020, according the numbers previously reported. Over 9,500 migrants have evaded border security in one location alone.