Border Patrol Agent

Border Patrol Agent

Oscar

Charleston, SC

Male, 31

Spent a bit over four years (2006-2010) serving as a Border Patrol Agent in Tucson Sector, AZ: the busiest sector in the country. Worked numerous positions, and spent the last year and a half operating/instructing ground radar installations. Duties included: field patrols, transport, processing, control room duties, transportation check, checkpoint operations, static watch duties, etc.

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Last Answer on November 08, 2016

Best Rated

there was this girl form Honduras that crossed the border and border patrol caught but her family haven't heard from her since June what can they do?

Asked by MLG almost 12 years ago

Contact their consulate to directly contact the US and look into her status.  If it was June, she's either in jail, or has already been flown back to Honduras.  It is also likely she lied and said she was a Mexican in order to avoid being flown back.

Is there tension between you and local cops or other federal agencies about whose jurisdiction something is? Is it ever like on TV where some captain shows up and bellows "Alright this is MY investigation now, get all of these mall cops outta here!"

Asked by Toranna. over 12 years ago

There was a lot of tension between the local indian tribal police and ourselves.  The Tohono O'Odham indian police were often very shady (and caught doing rather suspicious things).  The entire reservation was corrupt/dirty so these police often had family members who were into illegal stuff as well.

You'd occasionally catch the police driving at night in the desert, lights out - well beyond their patrol areas.  They'd invent some story about what they were doing etc.  Likewise they would attempt to pull over BP vehicles when we were tailing suspicious vehicles etc.  It was always an interesting time with them.

The only issues we had with local deputies or police was simply due to manpower.  They'd get mad at us when we didn't have enough agents to respond to their immigration issues, and we'd get mad when they wouldn't come pick up warrants because we were too far away from them etc.  It was never harsh, just frustrating from both ends.

Sheriff Joe (Maricopa County Sheriff) was always a cool cat.  I actually liked that he openly berated DHS etc. for not doing our job better.  He would bring news cameras etc. with him when he turned over tons of illegal immigrants to the local I.C.E. office who didn't want to process them etc.  He really gets stuff done, and doesn't take nonsense from anyone.

There is so much criminal traffic out in AZ that all LEO's pretty much gel together when the proverbial feces hit the wind oscillator.  You'd always stop to back up local PD, DPS guys, or Sheriff's Deputies etc.  They would likewise stop and check on you.

I was involved in a 120-mile pursuit one time which involved: BP Agents from two stations, indian police, sheriff's deputies, sheriff's drug task force, DPS, and two local police departments.  It got downright confusing, but we got the vehicle.  In short, we never had the silly TV show drama.

Hello, I' m scheduled to take the written exam next month. How many question do they ask you for the logical reasoning, and if they are similar in difficulty as shown in the preparation manual U.S. Border Patrol.

Asked by Joe about 12 years ago

Honestly I don't even remember.  If I recall they were quite simple, logic based questions - to verify that you're not a complete dolt.  The part I was more concentrated on was the language aptitude part.  That was, interesting.

FOLLOWING THE QUESTION BEFORE: affects me, do border patrol provide a dictionary for those who do not understand english?

Asked by Jose M. about 12 years ago

There is not a dictionary that I am aware of.  A candidate must be fluent in English in order to be a BPA.  Most of the trainees in my class who failed out of the academy had poor English skills and were unable to pass the classes and law tests.  The law classes require excellent English as there is a lot of legal language which is extremely important to comprehend.

Also seen on TV--it was shown that BP has a site where it takes all the seized marijuana to be burned at various times of the years. Is this something that's contracted out or does BP take care of it 100%? How are other seized drugs disposed of?

Asked by CL Smith about 12 years ago

Our dope (marijuana and otherwise) was picked up and disposed of by the DEA.

Who represents illegal immigrants in court when they are caught?

Asked by Gerardo over 11 years ago

Illegal immigrants seldom end up in court.  If they do, it is by their choice, selecting a "notice to appear" action where they will go and plead their case with an immigration judge.  This seldom results in a different result.  If a person has the means they may attempt to hire an immigration lawyer to aid them in their plea.  This is not like normal criminal court, as the simple physical presence of a person in the US illegally is obvious proof of guilt.  If an illegal immigrant goes to court for criminal charges they will get a normal defense lawyer as any other criminal.

What percentage of illegals attempting to cross the border would you estimate are successfully intercepted by Border Patrol? Is that figure improving or worsening compared to past years?

Asked by Quezon over 12 years ago

I'd say that of the groups that we detected or spotted we apprehended around 30-35%.  That figure improved quite a bit following 9/11, as DHS/CBP had a large hiring push and went from around 8,000 agents to around 16,000.

Since then it seems to have been pretty steady.  As apprehensions increase the Mexicans and cartel guys become a bit more creative.  It's a constant back and forth.  There is no genuine progress being made toward "shutting down the border" or "stopping illegal immigration" etc.  Unfortunately that is not a political goal of either party.