Border Patrol agents are expressing serious concerns about their future in the agency should Vice President Kamala Harris secure victory in the upcoming November election. Multiple agents have confided to The Post that they are unwilling to endure another four years of what they describe as being undermined and scapegoated.
“I’m not doing this s–t again … four years of hell,” said one agent, who is nowhere near retirement.
Another agent added, “Lots of guys who can retire will go. If Trump wins, they’ll stay.”
In a significant move, the National Border Patrol Council, which represents 16,000 agents, endorsed former President Donald Trump on Sunday. This endorsement comes amid reports of massive turnover and declining morale within the Border Patrol under the Biden-Harris administration. Since October 2020, the agency has lost over 4,000 personnel, leaving approximately 19,000 employees, as reported by the Washington Examiner.
Despite attempts to boost recruitment incentives from $10,000 to as much as $30,000 and encouraging retired agents to return, these measures have failed to address the staffing crisis.
Both Trump and Harris have pledged to strengthen the Border Patrol, with Trump recently announcing plans to increase the force by one-third, or 10,000 new agents. However, agents speaking anonymously to The Post fear that if Harris takes office, the agency will face a significant staffing crisis.
“We will have another exodus just because we will have a bunch of 20-year agents saying peace out,” one agent warned. He further noted that experienced agents, those with five to ten years on the job who handle much of the agency’s critical work, are likely to seek employment elsewhere.
The agent who is not close to retirement expressed his certainty about leaving the Border Patrol if Harris leads the government. “Under this administration, they’ve done everything they could to make our job as inefficient as possible. They can’t outwardly tell us not to do our job, but when you’re watching criminals come in and get released it sucks,” he said.
The morale crisis has prompted the agency to hire its first suicidologist to address the alarming rise in suicides among Customs and Border Protection personnel, which includes Border Patrol agents. In 2022, the agency recorded a tragic high of 15 suicides.
“The morale has never been as low in the Border Patrol, but under the Biden-Harris administration and her current ads, acting like she’s pro-border security is just putting salt on an already gaping wound for the morale of Border Patrol agents and law enforcement,” stated Chris Clem, former Yuma Border Patrol Chief.
Clem further emphasized, “Kamala Harris has been bad for morale, for not only law enforcement around the country, but also for our border security personnel.”
Under the Biden-Harris administration, the number of migrant encounters has surpassed 10 million, according to federal data. However, recent months have seen a decline in illegal crossings, attributed to new restrictions on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. Border Patrol agents reported approximately 56,000 crossings in July, 58,000 in August, and 54,000 in September, a stark contrast to the 250,000 crossings recorded in December 2023.
I honestly cannot blame them one damn bit. they were hired to do a job but the biden adm won’t let them do it.