The Biden administration is launching a new inter-agency operation, dubbed Operation Sentinel, targeting transnational criminal human smuggling organizations against the backdrop of Border Patrol locating 250 migrants who died during their journey in Fiscal Year 2020.

In a May 5, 2021 letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, and Representative John Katko (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, expressed their concerns with the increased number of targeted attacks on federal law enforcement officers and federal facilities.

Today, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued guidance to agencies on COVID-19 Emergency Paid Leave, which was authorized in March when Congress approved the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

All federal employee official travel, including for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, remains limited to travel that is mission critical, according to recently updated Safer Federal Workforce Task Force guidance.

Last week, a bipartisan group of Senators and House members unveiled The Bipartisan Border Solutions Act intended to “respond to the surge in migrants coming across our southern border.” The bill comes after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended more than 170,000 people at the U.S.-Mexico border in March, the highest number in at least 15 years.

U.S. Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton testified before the House Administration Committee on the IG’s 104 page report, “Review of the Events Surrounding the January 6, 2021, Takeover of the U.S. Capitol.”

Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) is coming up from May 2 to 8, 2021. The theme is #GovPossible to highlight the work of public servants across all levels of government.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is making changes to the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program (FSAFEDS) based on provisions in the FY 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), as well as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2021-15.

On April 9, 2021, President Joe Biden released his administration’s FY 2022 budget proposal, which included the smallest funding increases for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice.

On April 12, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his nominations to fill top posts in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The administration has also made changes to the DHS advisory board as pressure builds to handle the influx of migrants to the southern border.

On April 8, 2021, President Joe Biden announced six executive actions in an effort to curb gun violence. President Biden highlighted the urgency of this issue in a speech saying, “Today we're taking steps to confront not just the gun crisis but what is actually a public health crisis."

Secretary of Homeland Security Alexander Mayorkas recently announced the progress of Operation Vaccinate Our Workforce (VOW), which has vaccinated over 58,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees.

A new report from the United States Sentencing Commission analyzes the 64,659 federal criminal cases in which the offender was sentenced in fiscal year 2020.

On March 25, 2021, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued an urgent memorandum for current GS-9 to GS-15 federal employees to volunteer for 120-day details to the southern border. The number of unaccompanied children at the southern border of the United States has increased significantly since the beginning of 2021, causing the Biden administration to request additional support to care for and place the unaccompanied children.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report covering firearms smuggling from the U.S. into Mexico and issuing recommendations to better understand the problem.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a Privacy Impact Assessment of CBP One™, a mobile app launched by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that provides the public a single portal to a variety of CBP services. The app is meant to streamline services for travelers, importers, brokers, airlines, and international organizations by asking them a series of questions that determine the correct services, forms, or applications to meet their needs. CBP maintains that the app increases transparency at CBP and streamlines the process for foreign travelers without sacrificing security.

Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Chris Coons (D-DE) introduced the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Law Enforcement Protection Act, which would allow individuals who kill or attempt to kill federal law enforcement abroad to be prosecuted in U.S. courts.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to launch an effort to care for unaccompanied children who are entering the United States from the southern border.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has offered the COVID-19 vaccine to its entire workforce, but just 49 percent have accepted a vaccine as of last week. Meanwhile, other agencies are seeing their employees accept vaccines in larger numbers, causing members of Congress to question the Bureau of Prisons’ vaccine rollout plan. For example, as of last month, 72 percent of the Veterans Health Administration workforce had accepted the vaccine.

Several bills were introduced last week to commemorate Sunshine Week, a national initiative spearheaded by the News Leaders Association to educate the public about the importance of open government.