Add the United States southern border to the list of places diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies have infiltrated.
An internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) memo obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, prohibits agents from using “he/him” and “she/her” pronouns when first interacting with “members of the public” – including those illegally entering the country.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Victor Davis Hanson, author of The Dying Citizen, to discuss the preferred pronoun policy and the state of U.S. bureaucracy.
CBP Pronoun Policy
Illegal migrant encounters are at record highs at the U.S. southern border, yet guidance obtained by Heritage via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seems to suggest the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is more focused on DEI policy.
The memo – titled “Guide to facilitating effective communication with individuals who identify as LGBTQ+” – is designed to give “guidance to all CBP employees who interact with members of the public to help facilitate effective communication with the diverse public we serve, including individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, non-binary, and gender nonconforming (LGBTQ+).”
The policy, which “should be used by all CBP employees who encounter members of the public in the course of their job duties, including but not limited to law enforcement, trade, human resources, public liaisons, and others,” mandates the use of gender-neutral terminology until clarification is provided. “DO NOT use ‘he, him, she, her’ pronouns until you have more information about, or provided by, the individual,” the memo says.
The guidance instructs border agents “to ask the individual their preferred pronoun and cautions that “some LGBTQI+ individuals may define these terms differently and the meanings of the terms may change over time.” Ultimately, “if an incorrect pronoun is used and then corrected by the individual, acknowledge the oversight and use the correct pronoun.”
Bureaucratic Virtue Signaling
Megyn called the CBP policy “unbelievable” and said it further complicates an already complex situation. “We have an open border… they’re flooding across the border and we can’t handle the number of illegal migrants who are coming in,” she explained. “These people are coming into the country – some of them are rapists, some of them are criminals, some of them are carrying drugs – and we have to tell the CPB agents to worry about she/her pronouns and making amends if they happen to call somebody by the wrong gender?”
In Hanson’s view, the DHS policy is “a typical bureaucratic response.” As he explained, “when they can’t deal with a felony, they focus and fixate on the misdemeanor.” And while he believes this guidance is worse than a misdemeanor, it is an attempt to “justify their mostly worthless existence,” he added. Fixing the immigration crisis would lead DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and his team to be “considered illiberal,” Hanson said, which is why “they won’t touch it.”
Instead, they’ve created a “virtue signal performance” that is meant to be interpreted as action. “We’re all supposed to say, ‘Wow, they may have let eight million people in the country and we don’t have any idea who they are… but at least they got their pronouns right – that’s something,’” Hanson concluded. “They’re completely impotent when they have these existential challenges because they feel the remedy is worse than the disease.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Hanson by tuning in to episode 675 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.