Thread: Records analysis: Border Patrol overtime goes up as arrests drop

Records analysis: Border Patrol overtime goes up as arrests drop


Written by
Alicia A. Caldwell
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Border Patrol agents have racked up daily overtime at a cost of about $1.4 billion in the past six years while the number of arrests of illegal border crossers has fallen to the lowest level in nearly 40 years, an Associated Press analysis of agency records finds.

Since the 2006 budget year, the agency charged with stopping would-be illegal border crossers and smugglers from making it into the U.S. over land and sea borders has spent more than $1.4 billion on what is described as "administrative uncontrollable overtime," according to the data provided by the Border Patrol. In practical terms, agents average two hours a day in overtime.

That means agents can earn anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent extra pay an hour for the first two hours of overtime, with the extra cash being steadily reduced every hour after that because of complicated overtime rules. Over the course of a year, an agent can earn about $15,000 more than the base salary, which for a more experienced agent is typically over $60,000 a year. Agents are limited to $35,000 in overtime annually.

The cost of overtime rose from about $155.8 million in 2006 to more than $331 million in 2011. That increase coincides with the addition of about 9,000 agents in the past six years and the drop of apprehensions to a nearly 40-year low, from more than 1 million arrests in 2006 to about 340,000 in 2011.

Border Patrol Deputy Chief Ronald D. Vitiello said patrolling the border can be an unpredictable job that requires longer hours from agents.

"The uncontrollable nature of the work is inherent in the primary duty of a Border Patrol agent and must be performed in order to get the job done," Vitiello said, adding that anything from making an arrest to talking to witnesses can keep an agent on duty beyond a scheduled shift. Often it stems from charging the Border Patrol for the time spent driving from a remote location to an agent's home base or staying late to finish the paperwork from an arrest or seizure of illicit cargo.


Records analysis: Border Patrol overtime goes up as arrests drop | The Jackson Sun | jacksonsun.com

The cost of overtime rose from about $155.8 million in 2006 to more than $331 million in 2011

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This can easily be offset and reduced by using Active Duty, Reserve, and National Guard military.

An obvious solution.

It does demonstrate that the rising cost of the BP is directly attributable to increased illegal alien activity, not decreased activity.