Agents within U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are instructed not to use traditional gender pronouns during initial interactions with the public, as outlined in an internal government memo recently obtained by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
The memo, acquired through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, directs agents to refrain from using “he, him, she, her” pronouns “until you have more information about, or provided by, the individual.” If an incorrect pronoun is used and corrected by the individual, agents are instructed to acknowledge the oversight and use the correct pronoun.
The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, initiated in January 2022, aims to increase aggressive oversight of the Biden administration. Critics, including attorney Mike Howell from the Oversight Project, argue that the CBP memo is a “forced-speech program to call illegal aliens by their preferred pronouns,” asserting that CBP should focus on preventing illegal immigration rather than engaging in a social experiment.
CBP did not respond to requests for comment. Conservative commentators, such as Charlie Kirk and Congressman Matt Rosendale, criticized the guidance, with Rosendale emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between citizens and those entering the country illegally.
“At the border, only two terms count: citizen or illegal!”
