GOP senator highlights security threat in Border Patrol’s weakened drug use standards

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FIRST ON FOX: Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford is looking on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to reverse course after it decreased its coverage on previous marijuana use for Border Patrol agent recruits. 

In a letter despatched on Sunday to Troy A. Miller, senior official performing the duties of the commissioner for CBP, the Republican requested him to “rescind this coverage and restore the two-year lookback on marijuana utilization amongst Border Patrol recruits.”

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Sen. James Lankford, marijuana, border patrol

Lankford sounded the alarm on what he calls lax insurance policies on drug use for Border Patrol. (Getty Images)

He charged that the marijuana coverage’s discount “undermines the security and integrity of the Border Patrol workforce and flatly contradicts Border Patrol’s mission to protect our nation against illegal drugs.”

The present coverage of CBP on previous drug use bars candidates from having used marijuana “within the 90 days prior to application to work for CBP.” It is unclear when this transformation was carried out. The senator’s workplace indicated the coverage shift from two years to 90 days occurred inside the previous few months.

CBP didn’t present remark to Fox News Digital by press time. 

Lankford famous his workers was briefed by the company final month on the coverage’s modification. According to him, CBP cited “confusion between Federal law and state law in states where marijuana has been legalized” in justifying the change. 

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, laws to control marijuana for non-medical functions or grownup utilization has been enacted in 24 states, in addition to two territories and Washington, D.C. The NCSL’s information was up to date Nov. 8, 2023. 

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A USBP official by a river

The border has grow to be a major situation throughout the nation heading into the November election. (Shaul Schwarz/Getty Images)

Lankford identified that the CBP continues to be a federal company and as such should “ensure its personnel comply with federal law regarding the illicit or otherwise prohibited use of controlled substances.”

As the rating member of the Subcommittee on Governmental Operations and Border Management, he cited his place, noting the entity “retains jurisdiction over Federal hiring and border management.”

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Marijuana in a jar

Numerous states throughout the nation have legalized marijuana. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

The Republican senator moreover wrote that briefers for CBP indicated recruits who reveal previous marijuana utilization throughout polygraph checks incessantly additionally admit to “other disqualifying criminal conduct.” Lankford remarked that the data is “not surprising.”

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“Border Patrol’s primary mission is to stop the flow of illicit drugs and illegal immigration across our borders,” he acknowledged. He claims that is inhibited by the coverage change and the potential for recruits to have “paid a transnational criminal organization” is elevated. 

Given this chance, Lankford claimed the decreased threshold for recruits’ previous marijuana utilization “directly contradicts” with the company’s mission, and moreover presents “concerning security and integrity issues.”

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