Border Patrol Shortage? (Phoenix: jobs, move, national)

[bigbiceps]

Originally Posted by Bummer

RACIST?

I have read all of the posts by Joshhhhh AND Joshhh (is this a mistake or do we have two?) . . . NONE SOUND RACIST TO ME!

Does anyone on here know anyone who does border patrol? If so, make sure to ask them why they have been getting lazy, or if there is a shortage, the damn mexicans are everywhere!

Those words can be interpreted to be hateful right there.

[azloafer]

I don't know anyone personally, but we watched a documentary on TV recently that showed a day in the life of a border patrol agent. They showed an agent out in the desert looking for illegals. He found a dead person. Later he found seven illegals and had to call for help. He also checked along the river and attempted to walk through the weeds and sticker bushes. By the time the documentary was over my wife and I said, "Geez, those guys work a lot harder than I ever did!" It was a real eye opener.

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by azloafer

I don't know anyone personally, but we watched a documentary on TV recently that showed a day in the life of a border patrol agent. They showed an agent out in the desert looking for illegals. He found a dead person. Later he found seven illegals and had to call for help. He also checked along the river and attempted to walk through the weeds and sticker bushes. By the time the documentary was over my wife and I said, "Geez, those guys work a lot harder than I ever did!" It was a real eye opener.

AMEN, azloafer . . . I watched the same, or similar, documentary!

What makes matters even worse is knowing that some Border Patrol Agents are IN THE SLAMMER (another subject altogether) for performing this "thankless" service for all U.S. Citizens.

[Artliquide]

The problem is not the "lazy" border patrol agents. The problem is management of border control. Why else would we have a local militia taking matters into their own hands, basically doing what border patrol should be doing (building barbed wire fences themselves, etc.) Though, I can imagine that it would be more difficult for a federal (or is it local?) agency to be as brazen as the minutemen are due to red tape and the ACLU.

[melissa.bolster]

Yes there is an extreme shortage in the BP, I know my husband has been in for 10 years and is a Supervisor. They are far from lazy and work there asses off. Unfortunately The government limits them to what they are allowed to do when it comes arresting aliens and sending them back. As far as your comment about going to Iraq, lol that is such crap! Again my husband does some of the interviewing of potential agents. They are not sending men to Iraq when first hired. 1. You have so many interviews and background checks to go through first. 2. Then you go to an extremely stressful 5 month training where you need to learn the spanish language in that time or GOODBYE! 3. You then get sent to the southern states for atleast 3-5 years before you go anywhere else. There are agents oversees but the only ones even lucky enough are the ones that have many, many, years of experience and you need to apply for that spot and be selected by Washington.

As for your quote of "dirty illegals" and "damn Mexicans" well sorry everyone else, but I sorted of agree with this guy in some ways. When you live on the southern borders for so many years and you can't even get a job in your own country, such as a dept. store because you don't speak spanish and they hire a mexican instead. Well I can see his point of having some racist comments. by 2012 we will be the minority because of them and it is depressing. Our BP fight a war everyday to try to protect us and the Gov't keeps putting limits on our men on what they can do to keep them out. And then as our keep them out they go and make others that are here legal instead of just sending all of them back. Now our country is becoming overpopulated with them. This didn't start on 9/11 this started after the Mexican-American war when we actually one California from them. It just hasn't sunken into there little brains yet that its our state not theres. I better stop now because I could go on forever.

[Bummer]

Very valid points, Melissa . . . BEAUTIFULLY STATED!

I can only imagine the frustrations for our Border Patrol Agents (including supervisors) considering "the blinders" on many of the IDIOTS in Washington!

[melissa.bolster]

Thank you. I just get very defensive when people put them down. Like any other job they do have bosses and yes its Washington and they still need to follow orders. I just wish others would see where they are coming from. Supervisor or not my husband still goes to work on the field and instead of worrying like military wives say 9month or a year, about my husband coming home safe, I worry every single night and I will be until he retires. He has been shot at so many times, One time on Christmas night! Then I here about other BPA who have shot and killed to defend themselves and are now in prison. Where are the limits. I really wish Washington would open there eyes.

[bluebelt1234]

I agree with you. I live along the southern border of Arizona and you can't find a job if you don't speak Spanish in your own country. I always thought the official language here was English. I mean if I moved to some place like Italy, I would be screwed over if I didn't speak Italian. The only job a person can find here in Yuma is teaching and we have to spend countless hours teaching English to our children because so many are crossing over here illegaly. It is much harder for a child to learn English if there parents refuse to learn English because the child always has to speak Spanish at home. I always wondered why the government places so many restrictions on Border Patrol agents. I mean after all if a person is trying to get into this country illegally they are breaking the law. If a person breaks the law by doing something else, they pay consequences. Why aren't these people who are breaking the law paying consequences?

[melissa.bolster]

Originally Posted by Artliquide

The problem is not the "lazy" border patrol agents. The problem is management of border control. Why else would we have a local militia taking matters into their own hands, basically doing what border patrol should be doing (building barbed wire fences themselves, etc.) Though, I can imagine that it would be more difficult for a federal (or is it local?) agency to be as brazen as the minutemen are due to red tape and the ACLU.

Originally Posted by Joshhhhh

The national guard handles border patrol too.

The National Guard has absolutely nothing to do with the Border Patrol. Educate yourself before you go and post ignorant comments like this. You make yourself look like an ASS!

[Artliquide]

Originally Posted by melissa.bolster

The National Guard has absolutely nothing to do with the Border Patrol. Educate yourself before you go and post ignorant comments like this. You make yourself look like an ASS!

I assume you weren't directing that comment toward me since I didn't mention the national guard in my post, which you quoted.

English is the official language now in AZ. This is why all teachers (which I will hopefully be in a year) have to be SEI (Structured English Immersion) certified. In other words, it's not just ESL specialized teachers in charge of teaching immigrants English anymore, it's every single public school teacher. What does this say about the immigrant situation? Lots. Though there are many non-native English speakers from countries other than Mexico, native Spanish speakers dominate. I've lived in a country with several official languages before, and that's not what I have a problem with. Honestly, kids are much better off being bilingual. But the fact is that the US chooses to keep English alone as the official language, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Until Spanish is the second official language of the country, immigrants need to learn English and not try to turn towns into Mexican towns. Like I said, kids would actually benefit from learning both languages, but there can be no "spanish only" areas, unless the government changes its mind.

But who enforces business practices? Isn't it discrimination to not hire someone who only speaks the official language of the state? I understand that their demand may require Spanish speakers, but I would think that not hiring an English speaker simply for that reason would be illegal. I've heard of border towns that wanted to make Spanish the official language of the town. Well, they can't as long as they are located in Arizona.