Border Patrol brings stepped-up recruiting to fairs, rodeos
(AP) — The beer was flowing and music was blaring in the middle of the Arizona desert when Ric Kindle approached a group of Border Patrol agents and customs officers out to recruit new hires.
Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol and the office that oversees customs officers, has been hiring for several years and now may need to fill an additional 5,000 positions within the Border Patrol that President Donald Trump ordered under his plan to bolster border security.
The presence of border agents and customs officers at the country festival is part of an aggressive recruitment effort to seek out prospective employees.
Customs and Border Protection has been showing up at bull-riding competitions, Big 10 and Big 12 sports tournaments, job fairs and country music fests like the one last month in Florence, southeast of Phoenix.
The Associated Press reported in January that about two-thirds of Customs and Border Protection applicants fail the required polygraph exam, more than double the average rate of applicants at eight law enforcement agencies that provided data to the AP.
The agency also will face competition from within the Homeland Security Department as Immigration and Customs Enforcement looks to hire about 10,000 agents.
The last time the Border Patrol received a large infusion of money to hire thousands of new agents, cases of corruption and misconduct spiked in the agency.
The son of a former police officer, Demers works two jobs as a security officer in Scottsdale, although he's applied to work at several police forces.