Washington DC – More than a hundred U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel have signed an open letter to Secretary of State Alejandro Mayorkas denouncing the department’s handling of the Gaza war.
The letter, obtained exclusively by Tel Aviv Tribune, expresses frustration at the “palpable and glaring absence in the Department’s messaging” of “recognition, support and mourning” for the more than 18,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7. .
“The grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza and conditions in the West Bank are circumstances to which the Department would generally respond in a variety of ways,” the letter dated November 22 states.
“Yet DHS leaders have apparently turned a blind eye to the bombing of refugee camps, hospitals, ambulances and civilians. »
Among the signatories to the letter are 139 staff members from DHS and the agencies it manages, such as Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
But some staff members “chose to sign this letter anonymously” for fear of negative reactions, the document explains. He called on DHS to “provide a fair and balanced representation of the situation and allow respectful expression without fear of professional repercussions.”
DHS did not respond to Tel Aviv Tribune’s request for comment at the time of publication.
The letter is the latest indication of fractures within the administration of President Joe Biden, who has faced internal criticism for his administration’s stance on the war in Gaza.
Last month, more than 500 officials from 40 government agencies released an anonymous letter pushing Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Another letter, signed by 1,000 employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), expressed a similar call.
But Biden has been reluctant to criticize Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza, instead pledging his “strong and unwavering” support for the longtime US ally.
In an internal message on November 2, Mayorkas echoed Biden’s position. He denounced the “horrific terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7,” carried out by the Palestinian group Hamas, but made no mention of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“The impacts (of October 7) continue to be felt everywhere in Jewish, Arab American, Muslim and other communities,” Mayorkas wrote.
“I am comforted to know that our department is on the front lines protecting our communities from anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and hatred. »
But two DHS staffers who spoke to Tel Aviv Tribune on condition of anonymity said the department’s leaders should go further to address the rising death toll in Gaza, where civilians remain under siege by Israel.
UN experts have already warned of a “grave risk of genocide” in the territory as supplies run out and bombs continue to fall.
“I have been very dedicated to the federal government,” said an anonymous DHS official. “I have held different positions. I truly believed in our mission.
“And then, after October 7, I feel like there was a sea change in this expectation of what we’re supposed to do in a humanitarian crisis and what we actually do when there is one. has political issues, and that has an impact. very, very scary and frightening impact.
The team’s open letter calls on DHS to take action in Gaza “commensurate with past responses to humanitarian tragedies,” including through the creation of a humanitarian parole program for Palestinians in the territory.
This would allow them to temporarily enter the United States “for urgent humanitarian reasons or important public interest.”
The letter also pushed DHS to designate residents of the Palestinian territories eligible for “temporary protected status,” or TPS. This would allow Palestinians already in the United States to remain in the country and be eligible for work authorization.
Such programs have been put in place for other conflicts, notably for Ukrainians facing a full-scale invasion from Russia.
Last month, 106 members of Congress — including Sen. Dick Durbin and Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Jerry Nadler — even sent a letter to Biden, urging a TPS designation for the Palestinian territories.
But one of the anonymous DHS officials who spoke to Tel Aviv Tribune said that while there have been discussions about a possible TPS designation, action appears unlikely.
“There have been many serious systemic and programmatic obstacles, driven purely by politics,” she said.
Part of the challenge is that the United States does not recognize Palestine as a foreign state, casting doubt on its eligibility for TPS.
“We do not recognize Palestine as a state. We don’t code them with that,” the DHS official explained. “And that involves Customs and Border Protection, ICE and USCIS. Obstacles were simply raised at the highest levels of these agencies.”
The manager suspects she knows why. “They are concerned about their own operations in terms of returning or deporting people to Gaza and the West Bank, if they were to change those codes. »
But this inaction has had serious consequences on the mental health of employees, according to DHS officials interviewed by Tel Aviv Tribune.
One described how colleagues with family in Gaza received no support from DHS leaders as they tried to get their loved ones to safety.
The other, a senior executive who spent more than a decade working for the federal government, described having nightmares in which he lost his own children.
He said he wakes up “knowing that we’re not actually doing everything we can to provide programs and relief to the Palestinians.”
“It is truly distressing and discouraging to have the impression, for political reasons, that we are not approaching (the conflict) in the same way as we would other previous and recent humanitarian crises, such as that of Ukraine. »
The senior official expressed dismay that Biden’s immigration policies have remained similar to those of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
Biden has faced pressure to limit the number of arrivals into the United States, particularly as migration across the U.S.-Mexico border increases.
“Honestly, the problem is that the Biden administration has been really lukewarm about going too far on immigration and is focused almost entirely on the southern border and the political impact that this has on the administration. This informed much of the decision-making regarding the new programs,” the official said.
This lukewarmness has left many anonymous DHS officials demoralized, questioning their sense of mission.
“We have the capacity to do anything, anything, but that’s just not the case,” one of the officials said.