Money isn't everything
Being border agent pays well, but job lacks appeal because of other factors
By Tim Steller
The Arizona Daily Star
The Arizona Daily Star Border Patrol agent Jean Nicole, pointing, gives directions to illegal entrants found in the desert near Douglas |
DOUGLAS - U.S. Border Patrol agents don't need a college degree, but can expect to earn more than $30,000 their first year.
It's a great job - if you like sitting on your X all day.
The latest border enforcement strategy means more and more agents spend their shifts ``sitting on Xs,'' as they call it. They watch over a sliver of U.S.-Mexico border in an attempt to prevent illegal crossings.
It's one of several recently imposed restrictions agents face.
Immigration and Naturalization Service officials say the changes are helping stifle illegal immigration on Arizona's southern border. But the reactions of some agents suggest the strategy could also stifle employee retention and recruitment - areas in which the agency is struggling to improve.
``The work is still there,'' said Charles Newcomer, president of the Tucson local of the agents' union. ``But we have more restraints on us that make it harder to do the same job. It's taken a lot of the satisfaction out of the job.
``It's a very narrow area of responsibility. Where they used to patrol five miles of the border, (now) an agent patrols 100 or 200 yards of the border.''
Among those assigned to an X - or ``front deployed'' as administrators say - some can be seen carrying a new piece of equipment: a newspaper to pass the time.
No more roaming, chasing
These stationary positions aren't completely new to the Border Patrol.Robert Hines, assistant chief of the agency's Tucson sector, recalled that they existed in San Diego, when he was fresh from the academy, in 1976.
But more often agents ``were free to roam, free to chase,'' said Johnny Williams, director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's western region. ``They would say, `You have these four miles.' ''
The problem was the agents could only react to illegal entrants, Williams said.
Increasing numbers of agents allowed the Border Patrol to design a strategy that emphasizes deterrence. Under it, parts of the border receive additional roads, motion sensors, flood lights and agents, many of whom spend some shifts in ``stationary positions,'' or Xs.
First it happened in El Paso, under Operation Hold the Line, in 1993. Then it happened in San Diego, with Operation Gatekeeper, in 1994. It reached Arizona last fall under Operation Safeguard '99.
Nogales was the first Tucson sector station to receive increased support. Then the Ajo area was built up.
Agent William Posick operates a night-vision scope from atop a slag pile near Douglas; the equipment allows Posick to direct fellow agents to suspected entrants |
The strategy has worked to help control Nogales, where apprehensions dropped precipitously this year, Hines said. But it has yet to be fully implemented - or to completely work - in Cochise County.
The idea is that by their presence near the fence, agents will deter potential illegal entrants from crossing nearby. Instead, the potential crossers either don't make the leap or, more likely, cross further from town, where they must walk longer, exposing themselves to apprehension by other agents.
Most agents have livelier assignments, and the ones stuck with sitting on Xs are rotated out every few days into other tasks - perhaps intelligence or anti-smuggling, Williams said. Later on more diverse options will be available.
``Agents have something to look forward to, other than fixed positions. The diversity in work assignments is something that our managers will look at in the future so that boredom does not set in,'' Williams said.
Other drawbacks to job
In Naco, agents have more freedom than in Douglas, but stationary positions have also been established there. Patrolling the foothills of the Huachuca Mountains, agent Jose Luis Garza said he prefers that assignment to others.``This is the most desirable work, because you don't get stuck in one area,'' he said.
Even without boredom, there's a lot about Border Patrol life that could put off potential job applicants. Agents must:
* Learn Spanish at the academy.
* Work rotating shifts, including overnight ``graveyards.''
* Accept temporary assignments of a month or more away from home.
* Accept permanent assignments that could be anywhere along the Mexican border.
Monty Garland, a supervisory agent at the Douglas station, added another hazard of the job.
``The thorns are sharp,'' he said. After chasing illegal entrants through the brush, ``I get cuts all over my arms and my face.''
Night-vision equipment is a valuable tool for the Border Patrol. Above, the equipment highlights a group of suspected illegal entrants as an agent closes in. The group is later rounded up, below. 
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High turnover rate
While many agents still consider the work enjoyable, a high percentage express their dissatisfaction each year by resigning. The turnover rate has been 12 percent for the last two fiscal years, and it will likely be that high again this year, said Sid Waldstreicher, who oversees hiring for the INS in Washington.Compared to other law enforcement agencies, that rate is ``not unreasonable,'' Waldstreicher said. But the turnover makes it hard for the INS to meet Congress' requirement of adding 1,000 agents per year.
This year, for example, there will be a net gain of only about 300 agents nationwide, in part because the agency has to hire hundreds of new agents just to replace those who are leaving.
But retention may improve if a bill introduced by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., becomes law. The bill would allow the base salaries of most agents to increase by about $8,000 per year.
Still, there would exist a recruitment problem. The agency draws the bulk of its recruits from the border states, but a new effort will send agents out to other regions of the country.
This month 200 agents are being trained to help recruit for the agency at colleges, military bases, job fairs and other community events.
Border Patrol's changing face
New agents these days are younger and more college-educated than the rookies of a few years ago.The average age of recruits for 109 recent Border Patrol academy graduates was 27, two years younger than the average age of all recruits hired in 1994. Of the 109 new agents, 75 were white, 32 Hispanic and one American Indian. One new agent was classified as ``other.''
Between fiscal years 1994 and 1998, the percentage of Border Patrol recruits with bachelor's degrees rose from 30 percent to 40 percent. At the same time, those with military experience decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent.
For those new agents who are assigned to Douglas, the minimum annual salary will be about $30,400, including mandatory overtime. At six months, successful agents move up a pay grade to about $42,500 per year with overtime.
With overtime, experienced agents can easily make more than $50,000 a year.
The salaries can't buy good relations with residents, though. And some say cultural differences make the new agents' interactions tough.
``They don't even know the area,'' said Frank Adams, who has lived about four miles northwest of Douglas since 1958. ``If someone says go to Twin Buttes, they don't know where to go.''
That can be a problem when a longtime resident calls in an emergency, said Adams, a member of the Douglas station's Border Patrol advisory committee.
``If you're in a hurry for one, and hysterical about half, you're not going to give good directions,'' Adams said.
Garland, who is originally from Glendale, was stationed in San Diego initially but transferred to Douglas about a year and a half ago. He said it takes about a year to get to know an area.
Patrolling the Double Adobe area early one May morning, he said there is virtually no legitimate traffic in that place at that time. He trailed one car briefly before recognizing it belonged to a guard heading in for a night shift at a nearby chile factory.
Residents complain the agents don't respond to their calls as illegal entrants cross their property.
``If one (illegal entrant) was trotting across right now, they wouldn't come,'' Adams said, gazing out at his property along Arizona 191. ``If 45 come across, they would probably come.
``You try to flag down (an agent) by my gate, and I guarantee you won't be able to.''
Garza, of the Naco station, said residents' calls used to be the agents' top priority there. But with increased crossings, the agents had to better prioritize their responses.
``I like to make time for them because it's good P.R. and sometimes they have real good information,'' Garza said.