Accidental Blogger

The Associated Press reports that the US Border Patrol is having a tough time retaining recruits to work along the border with Mexico. Apparently the agency loses 30% of its recruits (costing $14,000 per head in training) within the first 18 months of their joining the force. The job is tough as the opening line of the article suggests.

IMPERIAL BEACH, CALIF. — Law enforcement officers wanted: must work graveyard shifts alone in remote towns along the Mexican border, put in long hours and perform well in triple-digit temperatures.

That message is never touted in U.S. Border Patrol recruitment brochures, but the sobering reality of working on the border has created an environment in which about 30 percent of agents leave their jobs in less than 18 months.

"This has complications up and down the line," said Richard Stana, director of homeland security issues at the Government Accountability Office. "You’re constantly in a recruiting mode."

The Border Patrol’s struggle to keep new hires has become more evident as the agency comes close to meeting President Bush’s target of 18,000 agents by the end of the year, up from 12,000 two years ago and double the number from eight years ago.

The GAO estimates that taxpayers pay $14,700 for each trainee at the Border Patrol Academy in Artesia, N.M. That 2006 figure doesn’t take into account the many additional hours that senior agents spend training hires during a two-year probationary period. Money aside, a revolving door means a large percentage of the force will always be inexperienced.

"You’ve got to fill the slots, but you want quality people who are not going to leave," said Jeremy Wilson, associate director of RAND Corp.’s Center for Quality Policing.

About 20 percent of Border Patrol employees fail to graduate from the academy, which lasts up to 95 days for trainees who need to learn Spanish. More leave after returning to their stations.

This got me thinking.

Many Americans are conflicted about immigration, especially undocumented foreigners who enter the United States. The Republican Party is especially divided.  The populist right wingers and xenophobes like Pat Buchanan, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Lou Dobbs never tire of reminding us about the dangers that immigrants in general and undocumented immigrants in particular pose to our security and way of life. But Country Club Republicans, who want their rich friends to have access to cheap labor wish to put in place laws that will allow immigrants to come into the country if not as "illegals" then as "guest workers" without any prospect of ever becoming citizens. Sen John McCain, who favors cheap labor from the south of the border allowed into the US for ranching, farming, meat packing and construction jobs has said that there are some jobs that Americans, including those earning minimum wage, won’t do under any circumstances, even for good money (like picking lettuce in Yuma, AZ at $50 / hour ).

So, why not hire "illegal aliens" to work on border patrol?

• They will do work which "Americans don’t want to do" for much lower wages as businesses remind us often.
• They speak Spanish and can probably conduct more effective interrogations of the interlopers with little language and job training.
• They know the best places to enter the US and to hide from law enforcement.
• And most important, "illegal aliens" will stay near the border and not compete for jobs with "real Americans" in cities and towns. (is the border fence being built using "illegal" Mexican labor?  I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it is).

This definitely seems like a better option than wasting money on recruiting Americans for jobs they are too bored to do, resulting in unacceptably high rate of attrition.  It is also far safer than having well armed Minute Men with a grudge prowling near the borders.

Note: The title of this post was my co-blogger Dean’s idea.