After NBPC President Brandon Judd attended musters in Del Rio Sector yesterday, some new rumors popped up that have been gaining traction around the country.
Judd never said that AUO was going to be de-authorized on October 1, 2014. He did, however, say that DHS mandated CBP and all other components that use AUO to come up with new policies, training, and directives that are designed to monitor and scrutinize the use of AUO to the letter of the law. If CBP cannot properly implement said policies and directives or if the effort isn’t worth it, AUO will be de-authorized in favor of targeted enforcement similar to what happened with USCIS, NPPD, and USSS. There is no set date for de-authorization; the training module has been completed, but it hasn’t been rolled out yet.
Another rumor circulating is that Judd said that Ajo Station has been de-authorized of the use of AUO. He did not say that. Ajo has not been de-authorized.
Judd discussed the BP station in Grand Marais, Minnesota. The PAIC there sent an email to the station in which he placed several restrictions on the agents regarding the use of AUO and as a result of that email, everyone in Grand Marais was unable to justify even 10% and each and every agent was decertified at the end of the computation period. Brandon said that Ajo, one of the busiest stations in the country, recently went to four shifts to gear up for the loss of AUO. Their SOS sent out a similarly restrictive email, but it was later rescinded, because the policies, training, and directives hadn’t been implemented yet.