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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today NTEU will push strongly in this session of Congress for passage of bipartisan legislation that would bring to an end the two-class status impacting federal employees who perform a wide range of law enforcement duties.

Many of these employees have the early retirement right that comes with the designation of federal law enforcement officer (LEO); others, however, including those represented by NTEU in the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), do not.

“There is no dispute,” President Kelley said, “that the work of CBP Officers is law enforcement work.” The designation carries with it the right to retire at age 50 after 20 years of federal service.

The bipartisan bill, H.R. 1073—the Law Enforcement Officers Equity Act—was introduced yesterday by Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) and John McHugh (R-N.Y.). It is similar to a bill the pair introduced in the last congressional session and which drew bipartisan support from 161 co-sponsors.

The bill’s purpose, the House members said in a letter to their colleagues, is to provide LEO status to all federal law enforcement officers. In identifying groups of law enforcement employees without LEO status, including CBP Officers, Reps. Filner and McHugh wrote that “the tragic irony is that only time these federal officers are classified as ‘law enforcement officers’ is when they are killed in the line of duty—and then their names are inscribed on the wall of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial” in downtown Washington.

“The simple fact,” they wrote, “is that these officers have dangerous jobs and deserve to be recognized as law enforcement officers just like the others with whom they serve side-by-side. These valiant officers who protect us deserve no less.”

President Kelley noted that CBP Officers work around the clock as the nation’s first line of defense against terrorism and the smuggling of illegal drugs and contraband at the nation’s ports of entry. Not only do they carry weapons, she said, they have the authority to apprehend and detain suspected criminals.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.