As the United States Border Patrol struggles to cope with limited resources and a record surge in migrants in the southwest, potential new recruits are being offered bonuses of up to $30,000 to sign up.
Customs and Border Protection — the agency overseeing the Border Patrol — announced Friday that it had increased its recruitment incentives, with particularly rich bonuses for personnel who opt for a placement in a remote location along the border.
As of Jan. 8, all new Border Patrol agents are eligible for a $20,000 recruitment incentive, with half paid once their training is complete and the other $10,000 paid after three years of service.
Those who agree to work posts in "remote" locations will be eligible for an additional $10,000.
Those locations include Sierra Blanca, Presidio, Sanderson, Comstock, Freer and Hebbronville in Texas, as well as Lordsburg, New Mexico and Ajo, Arizona.
That's on top of the $62,095 a new agent might expect to earn on average, including overtime, according to the CBP's recruitment website.
The offer comes as CBP has increasingly struggled with huge surges in both legal and illegal migrant crossings, which have led to the closure of crossing points to redeploy existing staff to problem spots elsewhere along the border.
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- Smugglers Slipping Migrants Through Remote Arizona Border Crossing Overwhelm Short-Handed US Agents
- Over 6,000 Migrants Apprehended in 24 Hours, Border Patrol Reports
- The U.S. Still Has a Migrant Crisis at the Border — It’s Just in Mexico for Now
- Texas Starts Flying Migrants to Sanctuary Cities as Border Becomes Overwhelmed
“Getting into law enforcement can be difficult. Often, candidates must be willing to move to a new location,” U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens said in a news release. “The mission of the U.S. Border Patrol is one of national security. It plays a vital role in keeping our communities and our country safe.
"It is both exciting and rewarding work, offering the ability to work outdoors and with specialty groups like Horse Patrol, the K-9 Unit, and much more.”
Recruits will face issues including smuggling and desperate river crossings, as well as the deaths of those who succumb to the extreme conditions of the desert around the border.
“The ability to safeguard our borders and keep Americans safe is our top priority at CBP and to do that successfully we must attract qualified candidates to fill critical positions,” Assistant Commissioner Andrea Bright of CBP Human Resources Management added in the release.
As CBP seeks to increase its staffing in the southwest, lawmakers in Washington, D.C. are still trying to reach a deal which would see more federal funding to tackle the migrant crisis.