Agents Leaving Border Patrol in Droves, Union Says

July 30, 2002
By DIANE SMITH, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Low pay, low morale and confusion over who will ultimately be the boss of the U.S. Border Patrol have prompted hundreds of agents to quit.

Many other agents are pondering career changes if these issues continue to plague the agency, union leaders say.

"In the southern border, we are trying to hang on to the people we have," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council. The union represents some 9,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents and employees.

Hiring and retaining new agents has been difficult in recent months. Many experienced agents have left for better-paying jobs with other government agencies. The Transportation Security Administration, which is hiring air marshals and airport security workers, has lured hundreds of agents.

"One out of every four or five people are walking out the door," Bonner said.

The air marshal program offers Border Patrol agents an immediate raise of $20,000 a year, said Joseph Dassaro, president for the Border Patrol agents union in San Diego, Calif.

Dassaro said this is a huge issue in the San Diego region, where 195 agents have left in six months.

"In San Diego, it's purely a pay issue," Dassaro said, adding that an agent who has worked five years and makes $50,000 can't afford the region's cost of living.

The job announcement on the Office of Personnel Management's Web site lists starting salaries for Border Patrol agents as $30,466 to $37,043.

Another reason so many agents are leaving is what Dassaro calls a "mission identity crisis." Agents are getting incredibly different messages from Congress, the agency, the media and the public. This creates "havoc in management in the INS and Border Patrol service," he said.

The INS needs to hire 10,000 people by the end of September to fill its vacant budgeted positions. This includes inspectors, investigators, Border Patrol agents, special agents and support personnel. The INS said it is recruiting vigorously.

"We were working on some videos. They are trying a marketing campaign," said Carl Rusnok, spokesman for the INS Central Region headquarters in Dallas. The region covers Texas and New Mexico, and includes areas north to Minnesota and Idaho.

Xavier Rios, supervisory Border Patrol agent in the McAllen sector, said a full-time recruiting officer is working to attract new agents on college campuses and at job fairs.

"There are a lot of applications being submitted," he said.

But agents, INS officials and immigration watch groups said filling jobs is not a simple task. Recruits must undergo rigorous training and testing before they are given posts.

"One of the things they need is a big raise," said Steven Camarota, director of research with the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C.

Some monetary relief for agents may be available soon. Congress recently passed - and President Bush is expected sign - a supplemental spending bill that will fund some pay upgrades, effective Aug. 11.

But Bonner said the job has lost its allure for many agents, who believe they are no longer law enforcement officials, but rather simply guards.

Along the southern border, which stretches from Texas to California, agents can be expected to stay in one spot for eight to 10 hours a day. Bonner said many don't find their work as challenging and fulfilling as the prospect of fighting terrorism as an air marshal.

Another source of concern has been the homeland security package moving through Congress, Bonner said.

The legislation would move the U.S. Border Patrol to the Homeland Security Department and remove some of the protections currently given to civil service employees.

Bonner predicted that within the first year of creation of the Homeland Security Department, the government will easily lose half the people in the Border Patrol - to other jobs or to retirement.

"You you might as well call it the Department of Insecurity," he said.

ONLINE: For more information about jobs in the U.S. Border Patrol or employment with the INS: www.ins.gov.

Diane Smith, (817) 685-3801 dianesmith@star-telegram.com

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