Border Patrol struggles to keep newly hired agents

By Elliot Spagat
ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:35 p.m. August 27, 2008

IMPERIAL BEACH – Law enforcement officers wanted: must work graveyard shifts alone in remote towns along the Mexican border, put in long hours and perform well in triple-digit temperatures.

That message is never touted in U.S. Border Patrol recruitment brochures, but the sobering reality of working on the border has created an environment in which about 30 percent of agents leave their jobs in less than 18 months.

“This has complications up and down the line,â€