Nice to know what YOUR TAX DOLLARS are up to, isn't it?
"JACKSON, Tenn. - Welcome to the Border Patrol's unique recruitment drive, essentially a road trip across America and beyond, part of a presidential mandate to boost the force from 12,000 two years ago to 18,000 by December, the highest in the 84-year-old agency's history.
Agents say they are pulling out all the stops to find adventurous recruits willing to live along the 1,900-mile border with Mexico, where all new agents start. Teams of recruiters are hitting not only colleges, churches and career centers, but also NASCAR races - the patrol paid $2.6 million this year to sponsor a racecar - professional bull-riding events, US military bases overseas, and even declining former railroad cities like Jackson - nearly 1,000 miles from the Mexican border.
For the first time, the Border Patrol has also formed a "Minority Recruitment Strike Team" to attract more African-Americans, who now make up only 1 percent of the patrol....
Agents tout the opportunity to work outdoors and serve America without joining the military or risking their lives overseas.
Why wouldn't you want to serve overseas? I heard it was romantic.
The Border Patrol's chief mission is to stop terrorists along the nation's northern and southern borders, but they also apprehend illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. Recruits can earn $70,000 a year after only three years on the job, a big draw in Tennessee, where the per capita income barely tops $22,000.
But there is a downside: Agents can be assigned to remote and dusty desert towns along the border, far from the gleaming green fields of Tennessee. Recruits must pass a physical fitness test that includes running 1.5 miles in 13 minutes or less, learn Spanish, and work odd hours, since the border is patrolled around the clock....
If the border is patrolled AROUND the CLOCK how SO MANY are coming over?
Their efforts are not without controversy. Immigrants said they fear the Border Patrol's recruiting in nonborder states such as Tennessee will inflame tensions there among black, white, and Latino people.
Tennessee had the fourth largest increase in the number of Latinos in the 2000 Census, mostly immigrants, leading to tensions and debate over whether immigrants are costing people jobs. In Nashville, the Rev. T.J. Graham has urged people to join the Border Patrol on his radio show.
"They're coming to recruit people, and then they're going to turn them against us," said Blanca, 26, who would not give her last name because she is here illegally from Mexico looking for work. She arrived here a month ago, fleeing a statewide crackdown on illegal immigration in Arizona.
But for some who are struggling in Jackson, the Border Patrol offered a glimpse of a different future, far from a tradition-bound town that has a statue of a Confederate soldier in front of the courthouse on Main Street and is so quiet at rush hour that you can hear the birds chirping in the trees....
That sounds familiar for some reason (as blog author looks out window at town).
Recruiters Kurtis Woods and Jerry Payne, both military veterans who impressed the group with their discipline and ability to answer any question, assured him that the job was an exciting way to help the nation....
At the end of the seven-hour stint, only two names were on the sign-up sheet....
Brad Boling, a 27-year-old college graduate who is white, said he was leaning toward it. He and his wife were born and raised in Tennessee, but he cannot seem to find a good job in Jackson.
"It feels like there's really not much hope for me in this town," he said as he went home to talk it over with his wife. "I feel like I've got to move someplace else to do what I want to do.""
I know how he feels!
To read more about the recruitment meeting, go here.
