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Thread: The Border Patrol Hits a Breaking Point - Politico Article

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    The Border Patrol Hits a Breaking Point - Politico Article

    The Border Patrol Hits a Breaking Point

    https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...Octk7pwjdiIIhA


    The crisis on the border is like a magnet for spin, hyperbole ignorance and outright false information from both left and right. The author of this one actually presents a relatively (though not 100%) accurate picture of the challenges of controlling the border. The article has a left wing spin on things like use of force but overall the author has the one of the best grasps of border agency issues I’ve seen in sometime.

    The mass hiring / expansion issues detailed in the article are not unique to CBP. Numerous LE agencies such as the Washington DC and Miami Police Departments have experienced similar issues after mass hires.

    Most Border Patrol agents serving today signed up for a tough job in a quasi-military agency protecting the country against terrorists and drug dealers. They’ve found themselves instead serving as a more mundane humanitarian agency—the nation’s front-line greeter for families of migrants all too happy to surrender themselves after crossing the border. CBP’s doesn’t have the culture to meet this challenge, nor does it have the manpower or support from the rest of government. The latest bad headlines have come even as the promises made by candidate Donald Trump to invest in the Border Patrol have not been fulfilled; far from an increase of thousands of agents, the agency is actually now smaller than it was under President Barack Obama. As one former Border Patrol union official told me, “Trump is not delivering.”
    Last edited by HCM; 07-19-2019 at 01:09 AM.

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    I read that quote you posted from the union official and I'm immediately reminded of an earlier thread discussion the issues with CBP polygraphs, and polygraphs as part of the hiring process with all agencies in general.

    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ring-difficult
    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....s-agents/page2

    Quote Originally Posted by HCM View Post
    I call BS.

    CBP/USBP has the same issues as other LEA agencies which have tried mass hiring / rapid expansion. A large part of this is expediting hiring and putting applicants into academy classes before full background investigations are completed. The issues I'm aware of all come back to this.

    Just like the PDs in New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas and Washington DC they (CBP) have hired some turds.

    This thread should be merger with the CBP Polygraph thread as the two issues are related.

    The agency relying on a BS, Poorly designed and executed polygraphs instead or proper background investigations is a big part of the problem.49]

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    Quote Originally Posted by Yung View Post
    I read that quote you posted from the union official and I'm immediately reminded of an earlier thread discussion the issues with CBP polygraphs, and polygraphs as part of the hiring process with all agencies in general.

    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ring-difficult
    https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....s-agents/page2
    There is a reason even properly done polygraphs are not admissible in court. CBP’s polygraph program was just as mismanaged as the other programs mentioned in this article. Among the issues:

    CBP was using contractors who were not properly trained or experienced polygraphers. They were also not using question designed within the limitations of polygraphs. Good polygraphers are a limited commodity, they must be skilled interviewers first then learn the polygraph on top of that. The box is just a tool.

    CBP was trying to use polygraphs as a cheap shortcut in lieu of conducting proper background investigations. At best polygraphs are a check on completed back ground investigations not a replacement for them.

    I’m personally aware of at least one CBP polygraph contractor who was telling female applicants he would fail them unless the met him Ian his hotel room for sex. To call the program trouble is an understatement.

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    The institutional background/logistics problems facing CBP as an agency were an undertone in that article compared to how evil BPAs are.

    The only thing that the average bear is going to take from that article is that Border Patrol agents are a bunch of rapists and murderers. It was similar to reading a Vietnam era hit piece on US troops.
    "Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer

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    Site Supporter OlongJohnson's Avatar
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    I must be listening to fake news. I've heard it said over and over that the Republicans in Congress have tried to increase funding for ICE to deal with the situation, but the Dems keep restricting the resources, making the problems worse.
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    Quote Originally Posted by OlongJohnson View Post
    I must be listening to fake news. I've heard it said over and over that the Republicans in Congress have tried to increase funding for ICE to deal with the situation, but the Dems keep restricting the resources, making the problems worse.
    Funding is only one piece of the problem.

    It's not that the dems are restricting funding, its that the funding is not keeping pace with the increased demand. Shifting major funding in the fed gov is like turning the titanic - due to the way the budget cycle works they are always two to three years behind.

    Just regarding the funding piece you need to not only fund ICE, but also Heath and Human Service (HHS) who actually houses / places all unaccompanied minors, you need to fund the immigration courts which now have a 900,000 case backlog etc.

    Even if you get the $ there is a logistical lag to things on a lartge scale like this. Contractors take time to spin up, facilities and vehicles take time to make, it takes a year or more to recruit, validate and train and new BPA or ICE Agent. Even then you have a rookie. Part of the problem in any LE mass hire is rookies training rookies.

    One of the most useful things they have funded is the rapid DNA testing to validate claims of being a family unit instead of just taking the alien's word for it. The DNA testing has validated what I and others have been saying for a long time about 1/3 of the claimed family units being fraudulent claims to avoid detention involving rented or borrowed kids.
    Last edited by HCM; 07-19-2019 at 12:46 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TGS View Post
    The institutional background/logistics problems facing CBP as an agency were an undertone in that article compared to how evil BPAs are.

    The only thing that the average bear is going to take from that article is that Border Patrol agents are a bunch of rapists and murderers. It was similar to reading a Vietnam era hit piece on US troops.

    You my be right about what the average bear gets out of that article, and the author definitely has a leftist spin, but the issues raised about the institutional background/logistics problems facing CBP as an agency (and other DHS agencies) are 100% accurate, to include the issues inherent in the post 9/11 mass hiring. It's not just CBP - I've had to remove trainees who had an undisclosed felony convictions and gang ties and never should have made it into the academy.

    As I have stated EVERY LE agency I'm aware of has experienced similar issues resulting from mass hires. That said pushing people through an LE academy without having completed background investigations is unacceptable. Unfortunately among the BPA's there have been a few Rapists and murderers including a serial killer targeting prostitutes.

    The other thing in the article that is real is the disillusionment among CBP and ICE personnel on the border who signed up to do LE work vs narcotics and human smuggling organizations and are now acting as glorified social workers.

    The Left's concentration camp narrative is false but so is the Trump narrative. like most things the truth is somewhere in the middle.
    Last edited by HCM; 07-19-2019 at 12:39 PM.

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    THE THIRST MUTILATOR Nephrology's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HCM View Post
    Funding is only one piece of the problem.

    It's not that the dems are restricting funding, its that the funding is not keeping pace with the increased demand. Shifting major funding in the fed gov is like turning the titanic - due to the way the budget cycle works they are always two to three years behind.

    Just regarding the funding piece you need to not only fund ICE, but also Heath and Human Service (HHS) who actually houses / places all unaccompanied minors, you need to fund the immigration courts which now have a 900,000 case backlog etc.

    Even if you get the $ there is a logistical lag to things on a lartge scale like this. Contractors take time to spin up, facilities and vehicles take time to make, it takes a year or more to recruit, validate and train and new BPA or ICE Agent. Even then you have a rookie. Part of the problem in any LE mass hire is rookies training rookies.

    One of the most useful things they have funded is the rapid DNA testing to validate claims of being a family unit instead of just taking the alien's word for it. The DNA testing has validated what I and others have been saying for a long time about 1/3 of the claimed family units being fraudulent claims to avoid detention involving rented or borrowed kids.
    Really appreciate your nuanced and even handed insight on this highly polarizing topic.

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    Quote Originally Posted by HCM View Post
    You my be right about what the average bear gets out of that article, and the author definitely has a leftist spin, but the issues raised about the institutional background/logistics problems facing CBP as an agency (and other DHS agencies) are 100% accurate, to include the issues inherent in the post 9/11 mass hiring. It's not just CBP - I've had to remove trainees who had an undisclosed felony convictions and gang ties and never should have made it into the academy.

    As I have stated EVERY LE agency I'm aware of has experienced similar issues resulting from mass hires. That said pushing people through an LE academy without having completed background investigations is unacceptable. Unfortunately among the BPA's there have been a few Rapists and murderers including a serial killer targeting prostitutes.

    The other thing in the article that is real is the disillusionment among CBP and ICE personnel on the border who signed up to do LE work vs narcotics and human smuggling organizations and are now acting as glorified social workers.

    The Left's concentration camp narrative is false but so is the Trump narrative. like most things the truth is somewhere in the middle.
    Thank you for the insight you provide, it certainly helps to sort the "wheat from the chaff" so to speak.
    Fair warning though, you'll never have a career in mainstream media or politics if you don't learn to quit using truth and logic.
    "And for a regular dude I’m maybe okay...but what I learned is if there’s a door, I’m going out it not in it"-Duke
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    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    It was a remarkable statement then—coming amid Trump’s heated, racist anti-Mexico campaign rhetoric, as the Border Patrol union became the first union to endorse his candidacy, followed later by ICE’s union. Yet that statement today captures the myriad complexities and contradictions rolled into the Trump administration’s modern immigration policy.
    Unions backing a presidential candidate.

    That should be your clue right there of more problems to come.

    Look at where we are now after the election. >100K crossers a month.

    That has to be some kind of record happening on Trump's watch.
    Last edited by Borderland; 07-20-2019 at 01:09 PM.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

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