Homeland Security, union officials honor fallen customs officers

Politics took a back seat Tuesday evening as members of the National Treasury Employees Union joined Homeland Security officials to honor the memory of federal employees who died in the line of duty.

"Since [the creation of Customs and Border Protection under DHS], our agency has changed and our mission has been modified, but the underlying realities have not," said NTEU president Colleen Kelley at a National Law Enforcement Officers memorial paying tribute to fallen employees with the Customs, Immigration and Agriculture Inspection Services. "Every day, front-line customs and border protection officers take up arms to protect our nation, and this evening, we salute all of them."

Also attending were Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, House Homeland Security Management Subcommittee Chairman Chris Carney, D-Pa., and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Bashum.

Since 1808, when smugglers on the ship The Black Snake murdered Customs officers Ellis Drake and Asa Marsh to avoid capture, 111 officers in the Customs, Immigration and Agriculture Inspection Services have died on the job. In mid-January 2008, Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar died in Yuma, Ariz., after a drug smuggler driving a Hummer intentionally hit him as he was deploying deflation devices. Chertoff said at the vigil that the driver had been apprehended.

Carney said he thought that most Americans knew very little about the risks involved in protecting the border.

"Millions of Americans will go to bed tonight and assume that their safety is taken for granted. You know better," he said. "Perhaps the best way to honor these fallen officers and their families is simply to continue to do what you do every day: Keep this country safe."

Kelley praised Carney's efforts to increase staffing at Customs and Border Protection and win enhanced retirement benefits for CBP officers. The Bush administration wants to overturn those benefits, which Congress included in the fiscal 2008 omnibus act. Kelley said earlier Tuesday at the opening session of NTEU's legislative conference that the union would move aggressively to protect those benefits.

During the memorial, Chertoff said that one of the first events he attended as Homeland Security secretary was a similar vigil. Since that time, he said, "I've had to make more phone calls and visits than I'd like" to the families of officers who died in the line of duty.

Bashum underlined Carney's remarks about the role of agents. "CBP agents and officers are America's front line," he said. "I believe the best way we can honor their memory is to perform to a standard that would bring honor to them."

NTEU has sharply criticized Homeland Security, saying the department has not done enough to adequately staff border crossings and boost employee morale. But those objections were absent Tuesday as Kelley, Chertoff, Carney and Bashum shared the duties of reading the names of fallen officers and laying a memorial wreath.

"[Chertoff and Bashum] being here means a lot to the front-line employees who do this job every day," Kelley said.