Illegal Immigration Fight Comes To The Hood
But only about 1 percent of its agents are black, and the agency is moving aggressively to recruit members of a group that officials acknowledge have often been overlooked or been difficult to attract and keep because of the lack of blacks in the agency and in the border towns where they work.
Nearly 1,500 miles from his post at the Mexican border, Cyril V. Atherton, a Border Patrol agent, embarked on one of his trickiest missions.
He was recently in Memphis representing a recruitment team trying to entice other blacks to the hot, arid Southwest, where few blacks live, for a job that requires learning Spanish proficient enough to know if their lives are in danger while arresting as many as 100people at a time.
The Border Patrol, trying to bring its ranks up to 18,000 agents by the end of the year, says it has no quota for recruiting blacks, but it says it wants their ranks to be more reflective of the civilian workforce, where they number 11 percent. Hispanics make up the bulk of the agents, 52 percent, a reflection of the agency’s concentration on the heavily Latino Southwestern border. All agents must serve in the Southwest before seeking posts elsewhere, like on the Canadian border.
Some in this economically hurting region seemed willing to look beyond the low numbers of black agents — 150 men, 8 women — in light of the fact that the Border Patrol is one of the few large law enforcement agencies that does not require a college degree or even a high school diploma and can offer pay of $70,000 after just a few years, factoring in overtime.
Despite its size and rapid growth, the Border Patrol — which began in 1924 with 450 agents, mostly on horseback — is unknown to many people.
“I have never heard of the Border Patrol and didn’t even know the border needed to be protected,” Stacey McGhee, a 19-year-old community college student, said while listening to a recruiting pitch by Michael E. Douglas, an assistant chief with the Border Patrol.
Traveling to high schools, colleges, churches, community centers, black-oriented radio shows — anywhere he hopes he will find an audience — Mr. Douglas offers a pitch that emphasizes a sense of duty to country.
Sometimes, he seems to be offering inspirational life lessons along with his pitch. Stay out of trouble, because a “felony on your record will close every door of opportunity for you,” he says. Fill up your life with acquaintances, “but make five friends, people you know and trust.” Hit the books and “pay attention and get it right.”
“If only one of you listens to me today, I have been successful,” Mr. Douglas said. “I would be ecstatic.”
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With 16,200 agents, the Border Patrol is the largest federal law enforcement agency.
But only about 1 percent of its agents are black, and the agency is moving aggressively to recruit members of a group that officials acknowledge have often been overlooked or been difficult to attract and keep because of the lack of blacks in the agency and in the border towns where they work.
Nearly 1,500 miles from his post at the Mexican border, Cyril V. Atherton, a Border Patrol agent, embarked on one of his trickiest missions.
He was recently in Memphis representing a recruitment team trying to entice other blacks to the hot, arid Southwest, where few blacks live, for a job that requires learning Spanish proficient enough to know if their lives are in danger while arresting as many as 100people at a time.
The Border Patrol, trying to bring its ranks up to 18,000 agents by the end of the year, says it has no quota for recruiting blacks, but it says it wants their ranks to be more reflective of the civilian workforce, where they number 11 percent. Hispanics make up the bulk of the agents, 52 percent, a reflection of the agency’s concentration on the heavily Latino Southwestern border. All agents must serve in the Southwest before seeking posts elsewhere, like on the Canadian border.
Some in this economically hurting region seemed willing to look beyond the low numbers of black agents — 150 men, 8 women — in light of the fact that the Border Patrol is one of the few large law enforcement agencies that does not require a college degree or even a high school diploma and can offer pay of $70,000 after just a few years, factoring in overtime.
Despite its size and rapid growth, the Border Patrol — which began in 1924 with 450 agents, mostly on horseback — is unknown to many people.
“I have never heard of the Border Patrol and didn’t even know the border needed to be protected,” Stacey McGhee, a 19-year-old community college student, said while listening to a recruiting pitch by Michael E. Douglas, an assistant chief with the Border Patrol.
Traveling to high schools, colleges, churches, community centers, black-oriented radio shows — anywhere he hopes he will find an audience — Mr. Douglas offers a pitch that emphasizes a sense of duty to country.
Sometimes, he seems to be offering inspirational life lessons along with his pitch. Stay out of trouble, because a “felony on your record will close every door of opportunity for you,” he says. Fill up your life with acquaintances, “but make five friends, people you know and trust.” Hit the books and “pay attention and get it right.”
“If only one of you listens to me today, I have been successful,” Mr. Douglas said. “I would be ecstatic.”
Continue...