Border Patrol Agent

Border Patrol Agent

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.

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Last Answer on November 08, 2016

Best Rated

Hello, I read one of your replies on 3/15/2013 and you said that, " The theory is that illegal immigrants will be intercepted/apprehended within 25-50 miles of the international border." With ICE catching some, so ICE and BP work together?

Asked by Janice over 11 years ago

Technically yes, though in wildly different areas.  BP patrols the border, while in theory ICE would be enforcing similar laws within the United States interior.  However, in practice ICE does very little, as they're small and underfunded and can not adequately carry out their job.  They end up handling immigration detainers from local prisons/jails etc.  They also handle long-distance deportations by plane etc.

Were you impressed with the caliber of people you worked with? Should the American public have confidence that US Border Patrol is competent and fair?

Asked by dan79 over 12 years ago

I was pretty impressed with the caliber of people in the Border Patrol.  The academy, while not extremely tough was tough enough to weed out the idiots.  There was a huge range of people in the Patrol.  A large portion of ex-military folks (ranging from simple 4-year in/outs up to PJ's, some older SF types, USMC Corpsmen etc.).

A smaller number of prior law enforcement types, and then the rest were normal people like myself with no particularly advantageous background (college grads and non-college grads).

The overwhelming amount of political correctness and red tape means that in most cases the Border Patrol is a bit "too fair".  Sometimes you need to cut the nonsense and get the job done, something that the agency itself hinders very often.  It's a very politcal job as you can imagine.  You'd be amazed how often we were subtly told to do our job...less well.

Like any job, and profession you do have a small number of idiots.  There seems to be a flawed public perception that all law enforcement agents/officers should be angellic beings of good who dole out divine justice etc.  Nope.  Agents were normal people too.  With overy 16,000 agents you definitely would have some bad apples.

There was a website active when I was serving called "Trust Betrayed" or something to that effect.  It was a website run by the agency highlighting agents and customs folks who had become criminals or had been caught breaking the law etc.  It happens.  Not often, but it's simple reality.  So, on the off chance that you run into that one dirtbag, your experience may be different than most.

As a whole, yes, the agency is competent and fair.

What percentage of illegals attempting to cross the border would you estimate are successfully intercepted by Border Patrol? Is that figure improving or worsening compared to past years?

Asked by Quezon over 12 years ago

I'd say that of the groups that we detected or spotted we apprehended around 30-35%.  That figure improved quite a bit following 9/11, as DHS/CBP had a large hiring push and went from around 8,000 agents to around 16,000.

Since then it seems to have been pretty steady.  As apprehensions increase the Mexicans and cartel guys become a bit more creative.  It's a constant back and forth.  There is no genuine progress being made toward "shutting down the border" or "stopping illegal immigration" etc.  Unfortunately that is not a political goal of either party.

there was this girl form Honduras that crossed the border and border patrol caught but her family haven't heard from her since June what can they do?

Asked by MLG almost 12 years ago

Contact their consulate to directly contact the US and look into her status.  If it was June, she's either in jail, or has already been flown back to Honduras.  It is also likely she lied and said she was a Mexican in order to avoid being flown back.

FOLLOWING THE QUESTION BEFORE: affects me, do border patrol provide a dictionary for those who do not understand english?

Asked by Jose M. about 12 years ago

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.

Who represents illegal immigrants in court when they are caught?

Asked by Gerardo over 11 years ago

Illegal immigrants seldom end up in court.  If they do, it is by their choice, selecting a "notice to appear" action where they will go and plead their case with an immigration judge.  This seldom results in a different result.  If a person has the means they may attempt to hire an immigration lawyer to aid them in their plea.  This is not like normal criminal court, as the simple physical presence of a person in the US illegally is obvious proof of guilt.  If an illegal immigrant goes to court for criminal charges they will get a normal defense lawyer as any other criminal.

Also seen on TV--it was shown that BP has a site where it takes all the seized marijuana to be burned at various times of the years. Is this something that's contracted out or does BP take care of it 100%? How are other seized drugs disposed of?

Asked by CL Smith about 12 years ago

Our dope (marijuana and otherwise) was picked up and disposed of by the DEA.