Systemic Personnel Problems in U.S. Border Patrol
Border Patrol agents have extraordinary powers, including the ability to conduct warrantless searches of property close to the Mexican border and run checkpoints within 100 miles of any land or sea border. Yet the agency’s employees are notoriously prone to disciplinary issues.
Although the CBP’s own data are inconsistent and don’t paint a full picture, there is a history of rampant disciplinary infractions, poor performance, and oversight issues within the agency.
Data from the U.S. Office of Personnel management show that from 2006 through 2016, Border Patrol agents were 2.2 times more likely to be fired than all other federal law enforcement officers. Broken down by agency, Border Patrol agents are 54% more likely than guards at the Bureau of Prisons to be fired, 6 times as likely as Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, 7.1 times as likely as Drug Enforcement Administration agents, and 12.9 times as likely as notoriously scandal-plagued Secret Service agents.
This high rate of disciplinary and performance issues can be attributed to oversight failure. CBP is subject to three oversight agencies — one run by the Department of Homeland Security, one run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and one in-house — which are plagued by intra-agency squabbles. And the CBP’s own internal affairs division is “tiny” compared with other law enforcement. In 2015 the agency had 218 internal affairs investigators covering its roughly 60,000 employees, representing a ratio of 271 employees to 1.36 internal affairs investigators. By contrast, the New York City Police Department’s ratio of officers to internal affairs staff is 65 to one.
To improve Border Patrol performance, we need to institute a hiring freeze until personnel issues are addressed, along with regular audits by federal watchdog the Government Accountability Office. Other measures, such as post-hire investigations and polygraph tests, and shortening the amount of time before misconduct allegations are investigated, could help monitor ongoing performance and detect lapses. Civilian oversight boards and eliminating CBP agent’s ability to conduct warrantless searches would reduce their ability to abuse their power.
Congress must remedy these serious personnel problems in the federal government’s largest law enforcement agency before hiring new agents or further lowering hiring standards.
