U.S. Congressman Brian Babin (TX-36) was joined by six of his House colleagues in sending a letter to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Bill Nelson regarding reports that NASA is soliciting employees to voluntarily head to the southern border and assist at overcrowded detention facilities.
“What would possess this administration to ask untrained federal employees from an unrelated agency to respond to the raging border crisis is beyond me,” said Rep. Babin. “Like many Americans, and my colleagues who joined me on this letter, I have serious questions about the ability of these individuals to perform the duties of our highly trained border agents, the health and safety impact to our NASA workforce, and the financial burden to the taxpayer as the critical mission of NASA is affected when employees leave behind their responsibilities and go to the border. As the Ranking Member of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee and Co-chair of the House Border Security Caucus, I never thought these two fields would collide in such a harebrained way – President Biden’s refusal to truly address his border crisis has reached a new level of insanity.”
Rep. Bill Posey (FL-08) added, “We need to keep NASA and other federal agencies focused on their core missions as to not create delays in programs and other critical services. Perhaps the Administration should rethink its border strategy.”
Rep. Mo Brooks added that there would never have been an “illegal alien tsunami at the border if President Joe Biden hadn’t promised amnesty and citizenship to every illegal alien in America or if Biden hadn’t undone the Trump Administration’s border security policies.
“NASA has important work to do. It isn’t right for the Biden administration to ask NASA employees to fix the self-induced border crisis quagmire. As the #2 Republican on the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, I’m deeply concerned by the Biden administration’s border security ineptitude and willingness to hurt NASA’s missions. Further, any NASA employee who ‘volunteers’ for border security work is basically telling the world that his or her job position is not needed and should be eliminated,” Brooks said.
Recent reports indicate that the Biden administration has asked NASA employees if they would volunteer to help at overcrowded detention facilities amid a surging crisis along our southern border.
As noted in the letter, “Despite the fact that NASA continues to require mandatory telework, limits onsite activities to mission critical activities, and prohibits all but NASA mission-critical travel, NASA appears to be soliciting volunteers to travel to the border and work on-site at facilities where exposure to COVID-19 is likely.”
The members are seeking answers to a series of questions about their concerns detailed in the letter.