US Border Patrol agents are furious after Elon Musk’s DOGE team emailed them asking them to justify their jobs.
It is uncertain how many of the 19,357 employees of the agency received the message. However, officers in Texas were surprised to find it in their inboxes on Saturday evening.
The communication, which was shared with DailyMail.com, instructed, ‘Please respond to this email with approximately 5 bullet points outlining what you achieved last week and copy your manager.’
‘Deadline is this Monday at 11:59pm EST.’
During the Biden Administration, the immigration agents in green uniforms endured the most challenging four years in the history of the agency. They worked tirelessly as the agency, which was short-staffed, grappled with the largest immigration influx in U.S. history. The New York Times reports that almost 8 million migrants arrived during this period.
‘Working for the government is starting to become a joke,’ one agent said in response to the email.
Many Border Patrol agents were caught off guard by the message since they are on the front lines of securing the border, the top issue for President Donald Trump, and believe they should be exempt from the DOGE madness, including firings and layoffs, impacting other government agencies.
(‘Some) think it’s dumb that we are being bullied,’ another agent shot back.
Elon Musk’s DOGE team emailed Border Patrol agents over the few days, asking the over-worked federal agents to list five accomplishments in the last week, agents told DailyMail.com
Border Patrol agents work a checkpoint at an entry near the Del Rio International Bridge on September 22, 2021
One federal officer told DailyMail.com he reported the email as a phishing scam and didn’t intend to respond unless his supervisor told him he had to.
Musk doubled down on the email Monday morning after he tweeted the results on an unscientific X poll, asking if ‘all federal employees be required to send a short email with some basic bullet points about what they accomplished last week?’
‘The public votes overwhelmingly in favor,’ Musk posted, showing a 70.6% in favor results.
However, the tweeted sent panic across the Border Patrol, as agents who hadn’t caught up with their emails and saw the tweet.
‘I was shocked as well, seeing that it went out to Border Patrol,’ retired Border Patrol Chief and current border sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland told DailyMail.com in a phone interview Monday.
‘I can understand some of those other agencies, but of course, me being for the border, there is nothing more critical than border security.’
Cleveland suggested the email might have been sent to all federal workers, in a sloppy move by Elon’s DOGE department.
‘You would think someone might put a little more thought into it. You get a lot of these people that maybe aren’t as familiar (with government) working for Elon who aren’t familiar with the agencies and who’s what and sends it out,’ Cleveland, who retired from the Border Patrol in April 2022, added.
‘If I was still at the Border Patrol, I probably would have been offended as well.’
DailyMail.com heard from a number of infuriated border agents after Musk said the public ‘overwhelmingly’ backed federal employees sending a list of their accomplishments
Elon Musk speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 11
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents and K-9 security dog keep watch at a checkpoint station, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, in Falfurrias, Texas
Trump campaigned as the biggest supporter of the Border Patrol, earning the endorsement of the union that represents the agents during the 2024 election.
Most agents hoped under working conditions would get better under Trump.
During President Joe Biden’s time in office, agents were forced to watch and care for children who arrived alone at the border– something that had never happened before.
They also rescued desperate migrants who had either drowned in the river separating Texas and Mexico or were lost in remote areas and died.
After seeing a record number of agent suicides during the Biden era, the department hired a ‘suicidologist’ to help prevent more deaths.
‘Work has gotten very difficult on them,’ US Rep. Tony Gonzales, who presents most of the Texas border, told the New York Post in 2022 when the border crisis was at its peak.
‘I’ve seen it in their faces. I’ve heard it in their voices for months now. It’s almost, “How much can a person take?” And often, they’ve taken a lot before they break.’
By Monday morning, agents across the border had been told to ignore the email during their daily muster.
Additionally, an email went out from Department of Homeland Security leadership, advising agents to take no action.
DHS, the parent agency of Border Patrol, sent out guidance asking agents to take ‘no action’ on the DOGE email, according to an email obtained by DailyMail.com
An email sent by the AFGE union for federal workers calls Musk’s attempt to have Border Patrol agents justify their jobs illegitimate
‘You may have received a message this weekend from OPM requesting information,’ the email from R.D. Alles, the Deputy Under Secretary for Management at DHS wrote.
‘No reporting action from you is needed at this time. For now, please pause any responses outside of your DHS chain of command.’
Additionally, a union representing federal workers emailed agents, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) bashed the email sent by the US Office of Professional Management under Musk’s direction.
‘AFGE strongly believes this email was sent illegitimately and that OMP lacks the authority to direct the assignment of work to agency employees in this manner,’ the union stated.
‘We will formally request that OPM rescind the email and clarify under what authority it was issued.’
