For years it has been easy for McCain, Flake Want Agents To Speed Up Border Entry to cross the southern border with loads of drugs and people, and difficult for legitimate business to bring their wares north. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake did little while the cartels’ off road commerce met little interference while produce aged as it sat in long lines at the Mariposa Port of Entry.
Now, McCain and Flake are engaged and have sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson today requesting an update on when the agency will complete its assignment of 2,000 new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at U.S. ports of entry in Arizona, which it had committed to completing by the end of this fiscal year. In particular, the Senators urge CBP to address staffing shortages at the Mariposa port of entry, which has experienced increased traffic following its renovation and expansion last year.
“On October 14, 2014, we wrote to you regarding the assignment of new Customs and Border Protection officers (CBPOs) at ports of entry in Arizona following the increased funding to hire 2,000 new CBPOs nationwide by the end of fiscal year 2015,” write Senators McCain and Flake. “Our concern at the time, and today, is how those officers would be assigned to ports within Arizona and under what time frame. Of particular concern is the Mariposa port of entry, which has seen increased vehicular traffic following the completion of the renovation and expansion of the port…CBP has assured Congress and those that depend on the ports of entry for their livelihood that hiring these officers is a top priority, however, it appears that these assurances have not resulted in the full staffing at the ports of entry located within Arizona.”
The letter reads in part:
CBP has assured Congress and those that depend on the ports of entry for their livelihood that hiring these officers is a top priority, however, it appears that these assurances have not resulted in the full staffing at the ports of entry located within Arizona. Per your response to questions related to a recent oversight hearing in the Judiciary Committee, as of April of 2015, CBP has only gained a net of 838 CBP officers toward the 2,000 additional officers that were funded by Congress. To help us better understand the staffing shortage and the challenges in hiring additional officers, please provide answers to the following questions:
- Given that CBP will fail to meet the congressionally mandated staffing level of 23,775 CBPOs by the end of FY2015, what is the end of fiscal year delta for CBPO hiring?
- How many CBPOs have been hired and placed at the Tucson Field Operation Office within the last fiscal year, in excess to those officers replaced due to attrition or relocation in the last fiscal year?
- How many CBPOs have been lost to attrition or relocation from the Tucson Field Operation Office in the last fiscal year? How does that compare to attrition rates at other offices along the southern border with Mexico?
- What has CBP done to make the process of recruiting, screening, and hiring new officers more efficient and effective? What improvements, if any, have been made to accelerate the turnaround time for polygraph tests and background examinations of applicants?