The Immigration and Naturalization Service has now become the largest law enforcement agency in the United States. In fact, more INS agents are authorized to carry guns than FBI or Federal Prisons officers.
There are now 74,500 armed INS agents who carry guns. 12,403 of those agents patrol the US-Mexican border. The Bureau of Prisons comes in a distant second employing only 11,329 agents. The FBI employs 11,329 agents.
86% of the agents are men. Hispanics comprise 13% of the total. 12% are black non-Hispanic. 2% are Asian. Nearly half of the agents are involved in criminal investigations and law enforcement. 21% have jobs in corrections. The rest work in court operations and 3% in security.
And while other agencies face budget cuts, the Border Patrol is being granted large funding increases in order to further increase its size
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