CBPGuy
7 Years Experience
SouthWest, US
Male, 25
I am a U. S. Customs and Border Protection Officer on the southwest border between Mexico and the United States. I know the ins and outs of the job as seen on TV/News and things intentionally hidden from the media! There's more to this job than "Anything to declare?" I dont know all but I'll do my best to answer any questions you have! All answers are my opinion, and my opinion only!
You are paid every day that you are at the job. When you are hired, you go to your assigned port for "Pre-Academy". During this Pre-Academy time your doing mostly clerical work. You are filling out paperwork for your health benefits, TSP (401k), etc. You are also doing online training courses that help you prepare for the job. You are also doing tours of the port and watching officers work. Every port has their Pre-Academy set up differently. Housing is not paid for while your at the port for Pre Academy.
At the academy, you work Monday through Friday with varying start times, but all are only 8 hours a day. You are paid during all the training hours. You sleep in a dorm which is provided by the agency and you eat the meals at the cafeteria, which is also paid for by the agency. All books, supplies, and uniforms are provided by the agency. You really only need to bring a pair of running shoes, boots, shoe polish, toiletries, and off training clothes. You are only allowed to wear the academy's uniform in the gym (on or off training hours).
For Veterans, your given Veterans preference points up to 5 points, i believe, for the initial written test.
There is nothing against policy regarding dating a foreign national. There is, however, a policy that forbids you to associate with illegal aliens. A DREAMer is considered an illegal alien, by law.
There is also nothing against policy regarding "Sanctuary Cities", so I can confidently say that there are no issues with you living there. As long as you are honestly unaware of the immigration status of the people you deal with outside of work, nothing "bad" would happen to you. So, if you unknowingly go to a restaurant with illegal waiters and there happens to be a raid, theoretically, you should be in the clear because you did not know. However, if you were to hire illegal aliens to perform work for you at your home, then that would be a different story.
As a GS-12 (pay scale), I earn about $110,000 a year with overtime. The pay scale goes like this:
GS-5 (first year) = $35,000GS-7 (second year) = $43,000GS-9 (Third Year) = $52,000GS-11 (Fourth Year) = $62,000GS-12 (Fifth Year) = $76,000
After you hit GS 12, every year or so you get a raise of about $2,000 to $3,000. All the numbers mentioned above are approximate and include my additional locality pay.
If you are an Alien seeking admission into the United States and you are caught lying to a CBP Officer in order to gain admission, a visa, or any other type of benefit from the United States, you will be charged under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 212(a)(6)(C).
If you are a United States citizen, you could be charged criminally under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001, and sentenced to up to 8 years in prison.
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The airport can get fairly boring. For the first several years of your career, you will be posted at "Primary" where you either grant admission to alien's (Entry for US Citizens) or refer suspect individuals for further scrutiny.
Once you have a few years on your belt, you can bid for a secondary position. This is where you will be determining with you will allow someone to enter the United States or return them back to their home country.
There are also other specialty teams where you patrol the airport in vehicles, perform hot stops, interview subjects etc. Those positions, however, are few far and between at airports.
As for education, you only need a high school diploma or GED. Of course, a college degree will make you more noticeable and may start you at a higher pay but it's not necessary.
I suppose they expect you to have it somewhat together. At the very least, they want to see you motivated. Anyone can pass the PFT's at the academy if they try hard enough and set goals for themselves. I also barely scraped by the first PFT. But after enough conditioning throughout the academy, my 1.5 mile went from 15 mins and change to 11 minutes and 52 seconds.
You will be required to do physical training two days a week, 2 hours each day. Its up to the instructor on what they want to train (conditioning or defensive tactics). Otherwise, on your time your free to train as much or as little as you'd like.
Everyone who gets arrested in the United States (visitor or not) is assigned a permanent FBI number tied to their fingerprints. This number is assigned the moment they take your fingerprints at the police station. When you scan your fingerprints on primary, it sends an alert telling us that you have something derogatory with your fingerprints. It is the job of the Officer in secondary to determine what that is and if it is enough to deny you entry.
You will always go back to secondary unless the FBI expunges your record.
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