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A mandate to hire 6,000 new border agents by the end of 2008 has lowered qualification tests, concentrated four months of training into 10 weeks and is raising concerns that recruits won’t get the proper training they need to protect the borders…
By October 1, half of all Border Patrol agents will have less than two years of experience, says Richard Pierce. “So essentially, what we have is trainee agents teaching trainees out in the field.”
According to the Border Patrol’s website, the academy no longer requires a high school diploma or GED for entrance, and passing test grades have been lowered from 85 percent to 70…
“The Border Patrol is using contract employees right now to do background investigations, where it used to use FBI agents,” Pierce said. “The contract program isn’t even finished before the employee is hired. We have employees in the academy who have not completed background checks.”
Is our government just trying to deal with the diminishing results from a mediocre education system? Or is Bush’s new slogan – “Second-best or less”?
There’s no shortage of funds to pay real wages to get qualified Border Patrol agents. Just take it out of
Cheney’sHalliburton’s direct deposit account.I have to agree with Eideard’s comment:
You don’t need no stinking education!.
Who needs border guards when you look at what is going on in the USA:
* The border security fence program is being sunset on December 31, 2008
* The virtual fence by Boeing is being set back an additional 3 years
* The Mexican gangs have taken control of the streets of Los Angeles
* Clinton, Obama and McCain’s pro-amnesty views will encourage more border crossing.
Yes, the illegal aliens don’t need no stinking education! They can just walk across the invisible border the same way we cross the street in our home town.
After all, La Raza believes that the southwest of the USA belongs to them anyways.
Of course they need to lower the standards… Americans have become the stupidest people in the history of the universe.
I am not surprised, anyone with any brains knows that if you become an agent and defend yourself from a Mexican drug dealer you will go to jail!
The average salary of an agent is $47k. Risk your life for that + not be allowed to do your job. That’s a winning formula for attracting the best!
Typical Bush program … half-assed and over budget.
This has nothing to do with the intelligence or lack of it. It has to do with mediocre pay and terrible living conditions that new BP agents have to put up with. Their own recruiting website has this to say in the FAQ…”You can expect your first posting to be in California, Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas. (Many stations are in small isolated communities, some of which have poor schools and medical facilities.)”
There is a lot of employee loss because agents get tired of the crappy locations and, because they are certified Federal LE officers, they can get hired by local PDs for about the same money and much better living and working conditions.
One plus of the lowered training they receive is that new agents won’t be as attractive to local PDs.
Well if you double the size of the border patrol, then of course half your recruits will have less than two years experience.
Hate to sound like Anthony Hopkins, but if the Minutemen could do a better job with volunteers, how much training do you need?
“Is our government just trying to deal with the diminishing results from a mediocre education system?”
AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers
http://tinyurl.com/2vru32
Looks like it. But this isn’t all the Government’s fault. Don’t blame Bush either for the School systems Clinton didn’t do any better in his 8 years.
Everyone forgets that allot of blame should be on the kids them self for not wanting to learn in the first place. They’re more worried about being popular than learning. But they all expect to be paid well just for showing up at work even when they can’t really do any thing but be a body there.
#8 – You’re right. If you get enough regular people and let them STOP people from crossing the border then it would work. You still have to add paying enough to have people want to work under harsh conditions…
JPV is a shining example of his own statement!
What education do they really need? Don’t they just find people sneaking over and detain them?
You can be a soldier in the Army in just 9 weeks which I believe is a much harder job than border patrol.
The real story shouldn’t be the education of these guys but their need. It’s all a waste of money. Immigrants will always try to get through and succeed as long there is money to be made through drug trafficking and illegal work.
Let’s go after the American businesses that hire these guys. If they were fined 5% of their bottom line for each offense, there would be virtually no “stealing of jobs”.
Stop going after low hanging fruit and deporting people trying to make a living. Target the businesses.
#12 you have to do both. Employers & border. And no, once people find out that they get deported to the Yucatan when caught crossing the border it will slow the flow.
#12, and the music industry says that every illegal download is a lost sale. Yeah, just walking over the border will bring the same number of illegal immigrants as having a 50 foot fence with a moat.
I think the US could save a lot of $ on this project if they were to hire illegal immigrants crossing the border.
RBG
thank god this isn’t about the minutemen. if their standards got any lower, they could hire baboons.
#8 – Hate to sound like Anthony Hopkins, but if the Minutemen could do a better job with volunteers, how much training do you need?
I have no idea what Anthony Hopkins has to do with anything, but that is a very good point.
#9 AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers
Here is a tip for corporations looking for quality workers…
Wait for it…
…pay them.
#12 – Let’s go after the American businesses that hire these guys.
That’s the real problem.
The Neanderthals can yammer all they want about illegal this and illegal that… but in fact these immigrants come over the border because we invited them. Their presence in our country is our fault.
The conservatives can spew their trademark bullshit about how I’m “blaming America first,” but in fact I’m just pointing out what everyone already knows to be the truth.
In fact, it’s so true that “anti-amnesty” and “pro shoot the fuck out of Mexicans” advocates have to resort now to the politics of fear by talking about the statistically irrelevant Mexican drug trade. And even if that line of reason mattered, it would still be true that the drug trade is an answer to an American economic demand.
#17 Cool. So, we should see legislation coming out of the Dem controlled congress nailing employers AND closing the border, right?
Pat said,
“Cool. So, we should see legislation coming out of the Dem controlled congress nailing employers AND closing the border, right?”
Yea…
Right…
I feel your sarcasm from here. We all know that neither party will do anything substantial about this issue. Just empty lip service. There is just too much money involved.
Heath Shuler(D) has his SAVE Act coming up for a vote. The Dem Leadership is against it, but the Republicans are looking to push for a floor vote. The Senate has two bills sponsored by Pryor(D) and Demint(R). None of our current presidential candidates are on board, and rumor has it that McCain has been pushing Republican House members not to push the SAVE Act.
My husband is going through the process now to get on as an agent. He went to Chicago to take the test. They had 50 people or so for a 4 hour test. Out of those 50 only 7 passed it. He said it was the hardest test he has had in a long time. He was in the Navy and he said their test were not that hard. I want to know how many of you smart ass people have taken the test or even thought about going and standing in the way of someone that wants a job or food for his family. Many men and women put their lives on the line to make sure the people that need to stay out are kept out. If they were not ther on the line God only knows who or what would be coming in. So stop your bitching and stand behind them no matter what. Like the men and women over seas they are protecting you. They don’t need some person sitting on their couch bitching and saying they suck and are stupid! BE AN AMERICAN!!!! Say thank you and be on your way! I am sick of hearing people complain. I have had my husband in harms way when he was in the gulf war. I am not thrilled with the thought of him being out in BFE in the dark on his own. You know what he wants to do. He unlike all of you is a proud American.