The rooting out of government fraud and waste continues, this time at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP). A career CBP employee—a director, no less—appears to have gamed the federal system and siphoned from money slated for emergency management purposes to suit her own.
While the alleged crime occurred under the Biden administration, we now have a new sheriff under President Donald J. Trump. If not for Trump’s mandate to root out this corruption and fraud, and for his new attorney general, director, and secretary at the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (which has oversight over CBP) respectively, this might have been another case of “nothing to see here, move along.”
Instead, the long-time CBP high-level staffer Serina Baker-Hill is under investigation and according to the DOJ press release, has been charged criminally with defrauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Hooray for the FBI’s new boss Kash Patel; so much better than the old boss.
TODAY: Following efforts with our interagency partners, I can report that a career Director level employee at US Customs and Border Protection has been charged with allegedly attempting to defraud FEMA, as well as lying to federal agents.
This is part of the new FBI’s renewed efforts to crack down on public corruption and deliver accountability for the American people.
Justice will be done.
Thanks to our partners @AGPamBondi @TheJusticeDept and our @FBIDetroit team for their work.
The DOJ press release read thusly:
A federal criminal complaint was unsealed today charging the Director of United States Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Center for Excellence and Expertise over Automotive and Aerospace Engineering with engaging in a scheme to defraud the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and lying to federal agents, Acting United States Attorney Julie A. Beck announced.
Beck was joined in the announcement by Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Daniel Altman, Executive Director of CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
Serina Baker-Hill, 55, of Detroit, is a career employee of CBP. Following a series of floods in the Detroit area in August of 2023, Michigan’s request for a federal disaster declaration was approved, which allowed residents to apply for FEMA assistance. Baker-Hill applied for FEMA assistance for flood damage and a FEMA inspector determined there was damage to the basement in Baker-Hill’s home. During the inspection, Baker-Hill informed the inspector she was not able to live safely in the home while the repairs were being made. Consequently, FEMA approved benefits for Baker Hill to assist with home repairs and for two months of rental assistance. The approval letter from FEMA indicated that the rental assistance money was to be used solely to help Baker-Hill pay rent and essential utility costs while she was in temporary housing.
According to Baker-Hill’s bank records, none of the FEMA money was used for rental, hotel, or utility expenses. Video surveillance at the home showed that Baker-Hill and her husband continued to live in the home after receiving the rental assistance funds from FEMA. Additionally, records for the home do not show a significant drop in utilities consistent with the property being unoccupied during this time.
Baker-Hill was later interviewed by FBI and CBP-OPR agents and informed them that she has never committed illegal activity of any kind and had never defrauded the U.S. government.
And Sam Brinton, the disgraced and fired deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Energy never stole that luggage either. Facts, like bank records and energy output, can be a stubborn things. But the FBI press release reinforces that a criminal charge is not a conviction, and that “When the investigation is completed, a determination will be made whether to seek a felony indictment.”
Many Americans are thrilled that exposure is actually happening, and Patel is being transparent on the agency’s investigations. As RedState reported, Patel has turned over the FBI records surrounding the J6 pipe bomb and other records that former FBI director Christopher Wray sat on. Patel also spearheaded an arrest for treason involving two active duty and one former military servicemember who shared defense intelligence with the CCP. The FBI now appears to be about the business of finding and prosecuting offenders of actual crimes, rather than persecuting American citizens for their political leanings or for peacefully praying in front of public buildings.
Yet, this is another black mark on FEMA’s already sullied record, and more fodder for the case that the agency should be dismantled. How many affected individuals in Michigan were denied assistance or had to settle for reduced assistance because one connected CBP employee knew how to game the system to skim off the top? How many other staffers in high-level positions in this agency, or the multitudinous other agencies in the federal government, have done the same?
Patel, Bondi, Noem, and the rest of the cabinet heads need to turn their agencies upside-down and keep shaking until all the loose screws fall out. CBP director Serina Baker-Hill is probably one of a thousand bureaucrats who have robbed the American people.
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