A sign of the times? In January 2017, just five days after Trump was inaugurated, the new President signed executive orders to hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in his bid to vowing to expand border security and crack down on illegal immigration.
“Today the United States of America gets back control of its borders,” Trump said at the time.
But today, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – which is the Border Patrol’s parent agency – has more than 3,000 job vacancies, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office – only 2,000 more than when Trump signed the orders, the Los Angeles Times reports.
CBP allocated $60.7 million to hire 7,500 border officers over five years but so far, just 33 new officers have been recruited.
We can understand why. An entry-level Border Patrol agent earns US$52,583 a year (or zero if the Government is shut down), has to pass strict fitness and law enforcement checks and be stationed at isolated posts along the border – not to mention dealing with the polarising nature of their mission.
If you want to hire new staff, you’ve got to have the funds to pay them – and as the President proved with the recent shutdown, these are in short supply.
