< back
DESPITE CONGRESSIONAL ORDERS, BORDER PATROL UNABLE TO MEET HIRING GOALS
As part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Congress mandated that the Border Patrol add 1000 new agent positions in each year from 1997 to 2001.  In 1997 and 1998 that goal was met, but in 1999, between retirements and a slow hiring year, only 369 agents were added to the total force, according to a recently released report from the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. 
Law enforcement agencies such as the Border Patrol always have a difficult time hiring, and the traditional difficulty has been made worse this last year by the strong general job market.  During 1999, only 25% of people who applied to the Border Patrol showed up for the written exam and only 30% of those who passed did not return for the interview. 
INS policies may also be contributing to the difficulty in recruiting new agents.  Applicants are often told to report for duty with too little time to make necessary personal arrangement.  Also, where agents are placed is often an inflexible decision, leading many potential agents to not take the job. 
While recent events at the Canada border have given new energy to calls for further increasing the size of the Border Patrol, many feel it may be time to let the agency regain an overall high level of experience.  The number of agents has almost doubled since 1994, causing the average experience of agents to dramatically decrease.  For example, along the Southwest border, where 92% of all agents are stationed, the number of agents with two years or less experience has climbed from 14% in 1994 to almost 40% in 1998.  People opposed to further substantial increases in the size of the Patrol believe that better training of the agents already in place will do more to secure the borders than hiring more inexperienced agents. 
INS Commissioner Doris Meissner recently redirected .2 million into Border Patrol recruitment efforts.  The General Accounting Office reports that this money was available because the INS had to cancel 10 agent training classes due to a “insufficient number of new hires.” 
The GAO report is on line at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/gg00039.pdf.