CBP memo orders agents not to misgender 'members of the public'

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Reporter spars with State Department official on why they added 'mandatory' pronouns to emails

AP’s State Department reporter Matt Lee grilled deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel on the change after Thursday's briefing.

An internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) memo obtained by the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project and shared with Fox News Digital prohibits agents from using "he, him, she, her" pronouns when initially interacting with members of the public.

"DO NOT use 'he, him, she, her' pronouns until you have more information about, or provided by, the individual," reads the memo obtained by Heritage via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Oversight Project Director Mike Howell told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday that the "members of the public" who border patrol agents most often interact with are illegal migrants.

"Border Patrol deals with more illegal aliens than any entity in the federal government. This forced language guidance is designed to coddle illegal aliens," Howell said.

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A Border Patrol agent looks over the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Shaul Schwarz / Getty Images / File)

"I guess it wasn’t enough for the Biden administration to betray the Border Patrol by purposefully unleashing chaos on the southern border," Howell said. "Now, the radical political leadership is enrolling agents in a forced-speech program to call illegal aliens by their preferred pronouns."

CBP did not respond to Fox News Digital's multiple requests for comment.

The memo encourages agents to use "a universal greeting, such as 'Good Morning' or ‘Good Evening’ in the initial greeting."

"If an incorrect pronoun is used and corrected by the individual, acknowledge the oversight and use the correct pronoun," the memo reads.

It also lists "key terms" with definitions next to each: bisexual, gay, gender expression, gender identity, gender non-conforming, intersex, lesbian, non-binary, queer, questioning, sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, transgender, transgender woman, transgender man and transitioning are all listed.

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An internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection memo prohibits agents from using ‘he, him, she, her’ pronouns when initially interacting with members of the public. (Stephanie Bennett / Fox News / File)

"This job aid provides 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 (LGBTQI+)," the memo's introduction reads, adding that the guidance "should be used by all CBP employees."

It also notes that the terms and definitions "are not universal" and that some LGBTQ individuals "may define these terms differently and the meanings of the terms may change over time."

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Migrants cross the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico border in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on Oct. 6, 2023. (Alejandro Cegarra / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Howell said CBP "should be allowed to do their job and prevent all illegal immigration, not used as pawns in some sick social experiment."

The memo follows an earlier report by Heritage's Oversight Project that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rolled out a similar gender pronoun guideline.

"All employees should be addressed [by] the names and pronouns they use to describe themselves," the reported email to HHS employees stated as part of its push for "Gender Identity and Non-Discrimination Guidance," which it says protects "employee rights and protections related to gender identity."

Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.