Watch: CBP Chief Mark Morgan Slams Twitter Censorship: ‘Doesn’t Pass the B.S. Test’

U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Neil Munro

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) chief Mark Morgan slammed Twitter’s October 28 censorship of his government Twitter account, saying “that doesn’t pass the B.S. test.”

He said:

Ironically, as they’re having a hearing on Capitol Hill on this very issue, Twitter employees were actively censoring another administration official. This should outrage every American citizen because they didn’t lock me out — they locked you out. They imposed their own ideology, their own belief system, to justify keeping the truth from the American people because it didn’t fit the very obvious and transparent agenda.

…

It’s ironic to me that that for some reason that [Iran’s] Ayatollah tweets out for the full and complete destruction of Israel. Somehow that’s okay, but me tweeting out about how effective the wall is, and how it absolutely helps us apprehend criminals that try to try to illegally enter this country, somehow, that is hate speech.

That’s absurd. And like I said, that doesn’t pass the B.S. test.

Morgan’s censored tweet celebrated the border wall, saying, “Every mile helps us stop gang members, murderers, sexual predators, and drugs from entering our country. It’s a fact, walls work.”

Morgan is the acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency. He spoke the morning after Twitter censored his tweet, during a ceremony marking the completion of 400 miles of border wall.

At the Thursday ceremony, Morgan spoke after acting homeland defense secretary Chad Wolf explained how the wall combines with regulatory reforms to help border guards block a huge share of economic migrants.

Morgan said:

Mr. Secretary, I could not agree more with every single word you said. And to be quite honest, I’m not sure I can expand on that adequately.

But what I would like to do is talk about something that happened yesterday. In fact, what I did is as we started to prepare for this acknowledgment of an incredible milestone of 400 miles of wall system being complete, I send out something that I do all the time. I sent out a tweet emphasizing the very comment that the Secretary has just made for us all [about] how this wall system is a central part of a decades-long, multi-faceted strategy of infrastructure, technology, and personnel.

How everywhere that multi-layered strategy is utilized, CBP’s operational capacity to secure our borders and protect the American people is exponentially expanded. As the Secretary mentioned, the wall system is one of many tools that allow us to dictate this ground, to dictate where the smugglers go, not where they want to go.

My tweet was intended to educate the American people that borders matter, and the great things done by the men and women of CBP and DHS as a whole. My tweet was intended to emphasize that border security is national security. And the tweet was similar to hundreds and hundreds of tweets that I’ve sent over the past couple of years.

But none of you today got to see that tweet. Americans across this great country didn’t get to see that tweet or the very critical information that was contained in that tweet. Because Twitter, they removed that tweet, and they locked my account yesterday.

And I’d like to take a moment and talk about this. The tweet basically read that ‘Walls absolutely are an important part of a multi-layer strategy that assists the men and women of CBP to apprehend criminals. That’s what my tweet said — and Twitter took the tweet down.

Ironically, as they’re having a hearing on Capitol Hill on this very issue, Twitter employees were actively censoring another administration official. This should outrage every American citizen because they didn’t lock me out — they locked you out. They imposed their own ideology, their own belief system, to justify keeping the truth from the American people because it didn’t fit the very obvious and transparent agenda.

They may have locked my Twitter account, but they’re not going to lock my voice. So let me unlock the truth that Twitter has tried to lock.

Let me start with a chart. And I’d be more than happy — and anyone here can have this information. In fact, I may just send this out in a tweet last year.

Last year, the border patrol alone had almost 2,500 apprehensions for criminals, and it ran the gamut from assault, battery, burglary, homicide, illegal drug possession, illegal entry, illegal weapon possession, sexual offenses. The list goes on and on. CBP-wide, we apprehended almost 9,000 criminals trying to make their way illegally into this country.

So with all due respect, Twitter, you’re, your locking in my account doesn’t pass the B.S. test.

…

It’s ironic to me that that for some reason that [Iran’s] Ayatollah tweets out for the full and complete destruction of Israel. Somehow that’s okay, but me tweeting out about how effective the wall is, and how it absolutely helps us apprehend criminals that try to try to illegally enter this country, somehow, that is hate speech.

That’s absurd. And like I said, that doesn’t pass the B.S. test.

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