Oscar
Charleston, SC
Male, 31
Spent a bit over four years (2006-2010) serving as a Border Patrol Agent in Tucson Sector, AZ: the busiest sector in the country. Worked numerous positions, and spent the last year and a half operating/instructing ground radar installations. Duties included: field patrols, transport, processing, control room duties, transportation check, checkpoint operations, static watch duties, etc.
There is not a dictionary that I am aware of. A candidate must be fluent in English in order to be a BPA. Most of the trainees in my class who failed out of the academy had poor English skills and were unable to pass the classes and law tests. The law classes require excellent English as there is a lot of legal language which is extremely important to comprehend.
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This has been answered in the questions above.
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Nope. Once released from federal service for that kind of issue you won't be rehired.
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It's not forbidden...just stupid. A BPA going into Mexico does so at his own risk. Considering you'll be catching and apprehending thousands of illegal Mexicans, it's not exactly the smartest place to go. But there is not a policy against it.
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Parcel Delivery Mailman
Are you a lot stronger and more fit because of your job?
Former IRS Revenue Officer
Did you ever deal with people who tried the 'Wesley Snipes' defense?
McDonald's Manager
Were you proud or embarrassed to tell people you worked at McDonald's?
There was a lot of tension between the local indian tribal police and ourselves. The Tohono O'Odham indian police were often very shady (and caught doing rather suspicious things). The entire reservation was corrupt/dirty so these police often had family members who were into illegal stuff as well.
You'd occasionally catch the police driving at night in the desert, lights out - well beyond their patrol areas. They'd invent some story about what they were doing etc. Likewise they would attempt to pull over BP vehicles when we were tailing suspicious vehicles etc. It was always an interesting time with them.
The only issues we had with local deputies or police was simply due to manpower. They'd get mad at us when we didn't have enough agents to respond to their immigration issues, and we'd get mad when they wouldn't come pick up warrants because we were too far away from them etc. It was never harsh, just frustrating from both ends.
Sheriff Joe (Maricopa County Sheriff) was always a cool cat. I actually liked that he openly berated DHS etc. for not doing our job better. He would bring news cameras etc. with him when he turned over tons of illegal immigrants to the local I.C.E. office who didn't want to process them etc. He really gets stuff done, and doesn't take nonsense from anyone.
There is so much criminal traffic out in AZ that all LEO's pretty much gel together when the proverbial feces hit the wind oscillator. You'd always stop to back up local PD, DPS guys, or Sheriff's Deputies etc. They would likewise stop and check on you.
I was involved in a 120-mile pursuit one time which involved: BP Agents from two stations, indian police, sheriff's deputies, sheriff's drug task force, DPS, and two local police departments. It got downright confusing, but we got the vehicle. In short, we never had the silly TV show drama.
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BP Agents have authority to apprehend illegal immigrants anywhere in the country. However, special statutes and laws which allow us to set up traffic check-points, inspect items/people coming into the country, and stop vehicles for immigration purposes diminishes as you move further into the country.
If, for instance I was in Ohio and someone admitted to being an illegal immigrant, I could apprehend them. This of course assumes I'm on duty and in uniform etc. In this instance I would end up taking them to the nearest I.C.E. processing center.
Illegal is illegal.
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It depends on where you are. I'd say our area was easily 80% Mexican, 15% OTM's from central and South America, and perhaps 5% from other countries. In California though you can run into large groups of orientals. I'm not sure what the overall percentages are. I believe this would probably be published somewhere - perhaps simply google it.
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