Thread: Customs agency seeks your help at U.S.-Mexico border

Customs agency seeks your help at U.S.-Mexico border
Victor Manuel Ramos | Sentinel Staff Writer
June 20, 2008

Uncle Sam wants YOU to protect the border.

For the first time, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is looking to the Sunshine State to recruit Border Patrol agents as part of an effort to beef up enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico boundary.

On Saturday, federal officials will be in Orlando and five other Florida cities to screen potential candidates.

The hiring spree is intended to help meet a recruitment goal of 18,000 agents set by President Bush in 2006 to address illegal immigration and improve border security. It is the largest expansion of the Border Patrol ever.

"We are embarking on a recruiting mission into states that may not be familiar with the Border Patrol, and we are certain that with awareness comes interest in this unparalleled federal law-enforcement opportunity," national recruiting director Joe Abbott said in a statement.

Florida's appeal is bolstered by the state's diverse population, said Tara Dunlop, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol. Bilingual recruits would be able to skip the 40-day Spanish immersion course agents are required to take. Agents would initially be stationed in the border states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California.

Dunlop said her office is interested in the diversity of the state's population "because we want to make sure the force reflects the face of the nation."

Although activists in immigrant communities have criticized the enforcement focus that followed the Bush administration's failed attempt at immigration reform, some Hispanic leaders support the Border Patrol's effort to grow a diverse work force.

"There's a certain sensitivity that minority candidates would bring . . . because we have a better understanding of the immigration issue. The other side is the political issue -- and that is whether or not we should be exercising this kind of aggression" through enforcement, said Danny Ramos, president of National Hispanic Corporate Achievers, a Longwood group that organizes job fairs to encourage minority recruitment. "There is a good side to it and a bad side to it."

There are indications that the stepped-up enforcement is making a dent in the flow of undocumented immigrants.

Border Patrol figures show that agents arrested 666,702 border crossers through the first eight months of the 2007 fiscal year that ended in September. This fiscal year, the number of apprehensions for the same period was 521,556 -- a 22 percent reduction.

"We have had an increase in manpower. We have had an increase in infrastructure. We have had increases in technology," said agent Jaime Castillo, a Border Patrol spokesman in Washington, D.C. "And we are going to keep going."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 7687.story

"There's a certain sensitivity that minority candidates would bring . . . because we have a better understanding of the immigration issue. The other side is the political issue -- and that is whether or not we should be exercising this kind of aggression" through enforcement, said Danny Ramos, president of National Hispanic Corporate Achievers, a Longwood group that organizes job fairs to encourage minority recruitment. "There is a good side to it and a bad side to it."

"Better understanding of the immigration issue"....hmmmmmm

"and that is whether or not we should be exercising this kind of aggression" through enforcement,"....self defense is NOT aggression.

There's a certain sensitivity that minority candidates would bring . . . because we have a better understanding of the immigration issue. The other side is the political issue -- and that is whether or not we should be exercising this kind of aggression" through enforcement, said Danny Ramos, president of National Hispanic Corporate Achievers, a Longwood group that organizes job fairs to encourage minority recruitment. "There is a good side to it and a bad side to it."

This is exactly what the issue of illegal immigration does not need - more sensitivity to the issue of illegal immigration!!

Since when did "sensitivity" become a requirement in enforcing the immigration laws in this country? Arguably, it's that very "sensitivity" that has gotten us in to trouble in the first place as any "sensitivity" expressed is often exploited to the advantage of the illegal invaders!

The pro-illegal invader advocates know what they are doing!