WASHINGTON -- As the U.S. Border Patrol seeks thousands of new agents, authorities are finding recruits from a captive audience: the National Guard.
Guard members from around the United States have been heading to Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas for two-week rotations since President George W. Bush deployed them to back up the Border Patrol last spring. The soldiers were intended to be a temporary stopgap until the Border Patrol adds new agents.
But some troops are applying to join the Border Patrol in their civilian lives once their rotations end. The current class at the Border Patrol's academy in Artesia, N.M., includes three trainees who served with the Guard at the border earlier this year, and officials say scores of other Guard troops have put in applications for when they return to civilian life.
An exact count isn't available because the recruiting among Guard members isn't a formal program. Neither the Pentagon nor the Border Patrol track how many apply.
"I've seen a number of guardsmen, just in the course of conversation, look at an agent and say, 'Well, what's it take to become one of you guys?' because they're encouraged and inspired by the work," said Army National Guard Sgt. Ed Balaban, a spokesman for the Guard's Border Patrol support mission in Tucson, Ariz. "We're all wearing the uniform for similar reasons."
For the Border Patrol, which aims to add 6,000 more agents by 2008 for a total force of 18,000, recruits from the Guard could be crucial. Interest has been high enough that recruiters have been asked to make presentations to soldiers stationed at the border in several Border Patrol sectors.
"That's the difficult part, not the number of applicants, but getting the applicant that is qualified," said Senior Patrol Agent Maria Valencia, a national recruiter for the Border Patrol in Washington who served six years in the Army before joining.
She said people with military backgrounds are prime applicants.
Many National Guard members who aren't full-time soldiers already work in law enforcement jobs when off duty. Depending on their military specialties and length of service, they could start at a higher pay grade than other entry-level agents. Any Border Patrol agents who still have outstanding Guard obligations must serve when called up.
In addition to recruiting from the National Guard, Border Patrol officials have launched a national outreach, devoting agents full time in each of their 20 sectors to recruiting, running ads in theaters before movies and putting flyers up around the country.
The agency also raised its maximum age for new agents from 37 to 38, hoping to catch career military personnel leaving the armed services after 20 years on active duty. Border Patrol recruiters may attend job seminars for troops heading back into civilian life.
Critics say the Border Patrol must not relax standards while hiring new agents. Three Border Patrol agents were convicted of involvement in smuggling last year after internal Department of Homeland Security investigations.
"It's a matter of concern, some of the recruiting tactics that are being employed," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for about 11,000 rank-and-file agents.
He doesn't object to recruiting among the military or Guard but said putting flyers up haphazardly isn't helpful.
"Certainly they're under the gun to bring people on board, but the country is not served well when you bring the wrong people on board," Bonner said.
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