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https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/border-patrol-kamala-harris-donaldtrump/2024/10/15/id/1184187/
Border Patrol Agents Threaten to Leave if Harris Elected
By Nicole Wells |
Tuesday, 15 October 2024 07:29 PM EDT
Tired of being undermined and attacked by the
executive branch, Border Patrol agents are threatening to quit the
federal agency en masse if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the
presidential election on Nov. 5.
"I'm not doing this s*** again … four years of hell," one agent, who is not close to retirement, told the New York Post.
Another told the outlet that if Harris is elected, a lot of "guys who
can retire will go." If former President Donald Trump wins, however,
"they'll stay."
The National Border Patrol Council, the agency's union, endorsed the former president and current GOP presidential nominee in a post on X on Monday.
Insiders say the Border Patrol has experienced plunging morale and
subsequent huge turnover in the nearly four years of the Biden-Harris
administration.
More than 4,000 employees have left the agency since October 2020, according to the Washington Examiner, leaving approximately 19,000 employees to secure the nation's borders.
Bumping up recruiting bonuses from $10,000 to up to $30,000 and
appealing to retired agents to return have reportedly had little impact
on the staffing shortage.
Harris and Trump have both promised to address the personnel problem
at Border Patrol, if elected, with the former president announcing plans
on Sunday to swell the agency's ranks by 10,000 new agents.
Several agents who spoke with the Post on condition of anonymity,
however, said that Harris would likely face an enormous staffing crisis
at Border Patrol if she is elected to the Oval Office.
"We will have another exodus just because we will have a bunch of 20-year agents saying, 'peace out,'" one agent said.
He also said he expects experienced agents with five to 10 years on the job to seek other employment with their skill sets.
The agent who is not nearing retirement told the outlet he was
"absolutely sure" he would exit the agency if Harris is in charge.
"Under this administration, they've done everything they could to
make our job as inefficient as possible," one of agents said. "They
can't outwardly tell us not to do our job, but when you're watching
criminals come in and get released, it sucks."
Sinking morale prompted Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which
includes Border Patrol, to hire a licensed clinical psychologist and
board-certified behavior analyst to help bring down the spike in
suicides. CBP suffered its worst year in 2022, when 15 agents died from
suicide.