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U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Chief Raul Ortiz announced Wednesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 after experiencing symptoms. He encouraged Americans to get vaccinated.
“Earlier today I was set to receive my Booster but was feeling symptomatic and took a #COVID test. I tested positive and am self-isolating, hopeful to feel better. My symptoms may have been worse had I not been vaccinated,” tweeted Ortiz, who has been the CBP chief since August 2021.
“I urge everyone to follow the guidance from health professionals and get vaccinate. I am one of hundreds of #USBP personnel in quarantine. Our frontline agents have battled this virus from the onset and I commend them. We will continue to be #vigilant as we protect our nation,” he added.
The vaccine mandate for CBP agents has proven controversial. The Biden administration announced in September that all federal workers must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 22 or face termination. A senior official at CBP recently said that “counseling letters” have been sent to employees who rejected getting the vaccine, which puts them “on notice.”
Raul Ortiz, then-deputy chief of U.S. Border Patrol, speaks during a new conference in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. (Veronica G. Cardenas/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“A counseling letter puts an employee on notice,” the senior CBP official told the Intercept last month. “Counseling letters set the stage — management can say, ‘Hey, we told you you are going to be subject to discipline for failing to follow instructions.’”
In October, CBP told supervisors they must push employees on their compliance with the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate or else potentially be fired themselves, according to an email obtained by Fox News at the time.
U.S. Border Patrol Raul Ortiz sits in the first lady’s box ahead of the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 04, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
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