FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2025
May 20, 2025
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-639-6405/202-374-6491
[email protected]
Federal Correctional Officers’ Union Targets Members of Congress for Turning Their Back on Law Enforcement
Categories:
Congress, BOP
AFGE’s Council of Prison Locals launches nationwide billboard campaign asking lawmakers to support law enforcement officers and reject Trump’s anti-union executive order
WASHINGTON – The union council representing more than 33,000 federal correctional workers nationwide is taking out a series of billboards across the United States targeting members of Congress for failing to support law enforcement officers.
Many of the members being targeted by the billboard campaign have publicly campaigned on their unwavering support of law enforcement, to include the officers of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, but have since changed their stance and support as President Trump has issued a multitude of executive orders that harm law enforcement officers – specifically Executive Order 14251, which stripped more than a million federal employees at BOP and other agencies of their collective bargaining rights.
The billboard campaign, launched by the American Federation of Government Employees’ Council of Prison Locals, asks those members of Congress to stop attacking law enforcement officers and reject President Trump’s anti-worker executive orders. In addition, these lawmakers are supporting legislation that cuts funding for BOP correctional officers and removes or significantly reduces their benefits.
As the Federal Bureau of Prisons has faced a staffing crisis over a decade, these attacks are further crippling the already thin staffing structure.
“We stand firm on the demands that the members of Congress who campaigned on their love and support for law enforcement prove this through action and reject EO 14251, and oppose any bill that removes or reduces any benefit rightfully earned by those brave men and women of the Federal Bureau of Prisons,” Council of Prison Locals President Brandy Moore White said.
“It’s been disappointing how many members of Congress who have worked with us for years have turned their backs on us to move on an agenda that certainly does not align with the previous working relationship we maintained.”
Federal correctional workers – nearly a third of whom are military veterans – are among the government’s lowest paid law enforcement officers, and have struggled to compete with their counterparts, to include difficulties in competition with non-law enforcement employment. They rely heavily on the support for their benefits and are in desperate need of additional funding.
“Our law enforcement staff have been forced to work mandatory overtime or be augmented, a procedure where nurses, teachers, case managers, etc., work correctional services positions, at levels never seen before – all while there seems to be no further acknowledgement of the dangers this poses the staff, inmates and communities alike,” Moore White said.
“We request that members of Congress immediately reject Executive Order 14251, and demand they not approve any budget where law enforcement officers’ benefits are cut or removed.”
The billboards have been placed across the country targeting the following 10 members of Congress: Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif.; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.; Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.; Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.; Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio; Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas; Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va.; and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
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