(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joseph L. Swafford Jr./Released; Illustration by POGO)
This story was updated to include a quote from the Government Accountability Project.
The nation’s largest law enforcement agency, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), abruptly removed its top medical official more than half a year after high-profile whistleblower disclosures about alleged misconduct by the official, Dr. Alexander Eastman, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has learned through sources. A career official has been placed in charge of the agency’s Office of the Chief Medical Officer with the new title “senior manager.” This official is not a doctor, but will be advised by one from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Eastman, who had been detailed from DHS to serve as CBP’s acting chief medical officer, told staff he would be returning to DHS headquarters.
CBP told POGO it does not comment on personnel matters.
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The moves come as the incoming administration, which has pledged tougher border security and immigration policies, is expected to expand CBP’s ranks. CBP’s Office of the Chief Medical Officer directs and oversees healthcare services provided by the agency to migrants in its custody, including overseeing hundreds of contract medical providers at dozens of locations. The office was created after the tragic deaths of numerous migrants in CBP custody, including children. Eastman took over last year after an 8-year-old in CBP custody died in what an investigation later called a “clearly preventable” death.
POGO did not receive a response to a query made to Eastman but did obtain a message he sent to the CBP medical office. “This is [sic] has come more quickly than I expected, but DHS has decided to bring me back to Headquarters,” Eastman emailed. “I am proud of the work we accomplished during my tenure here—our system of care is so much more safe and sound and that is because of the work you have done.”
Yet a CBP source, who asked not to be identified out of fear of reprisal, told POGO that the Office of the Chief Medical Officer “is in complete disarray right now.”
Whistleblower disclosures in February 2024 made a variety of allegations of misconduct against Eastman. Those disclosures include claims that he was dismissive of an incident where a CBP medical contractor allegedly failed to provide proper care to a 15-year-old girl in CBP custody suffering from severe burns, improperly directed staff to obtain fentanyl lollipops for a trip “in case a CBP operator might be injured,” frequently used “sexually suggestive language,” and wasted taxpayer funding on “non-mission critical travel,” among other allegations. More disclosures came in May.
The issues go beyond Eastman.
“This isn’t how you run a medical program and certainly puts migrants in CBP’s care at additional risk.”
CBP employee
Earlier whistleblower disclosures made in November 2023 alleged that CBP’s acquisition office has undermined efforts by some working in the CBP Office of the Chief Medical Officer, before Eastman took over, to hold a CBP medical services contractor accountable for alleged poor performance. Those allegations also say that CBP retaliated against an employee who had made multiple requests to put the contractor on notice of the problems, according to the non-profit Government Accountability Project, a group that is legally representing several CBP whistleblowers.
“These whistleblowers chose truth over career safety and exercised their rights to report serious problems with the management of CBP medical services that not only cost taxpayers millions of dollars but potentially endangered lives,” said Andrea Meza, the Government Accountability Project’s lead counsel for the CBP whistleblowers. “Dr. Eastman’s departure validates the power of whistleblowers to catalyze accountability for fraud, waste, and abuse, and why they need legal rights to protect from retaliation. DHS’s action is just the first step needed to improve the management and oversight of CBP medical services at our borders.”
Concerns about CBP’s provision and oversight of medical services persist. In August, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General issued a report finding “insufficient medical staffing levels” in the agency’s facilities in the Del Rio Sector in Texas on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“CBP’s inability to ensure the contract medical service provider meets the staffing requirements under CBP’s medical contract could reduce the quality of medical support provided to detainees while in CBP custody,” the DHS watchdog office found.
“This isn’t how you run a medical program and certainly puts migrants in CBP’s care at additional risk,” a CBP source said.
