The Border Patrol missed its hiring goal for 1999 by more than 600 agents as the agency struggled against a tight labor market, high attrition and a shrinking pool of eligible applicants, according to a new General Accounting Office report.
The Border Patrol-a division of the Immigration and Naturalization Service-hired 1,126 agents in fiscal 1999. But with 757 agents leaving last year, the agency ended up with a net gain of only 369 agents, well below its goal of boosting its ranks by 1,000.
"Difficulties finding eligible applicants and the high occurrence of applicants failing or dropping out of the hiring process resulted in INS not being able to meet its fiscal year 1999 hiring goal," GAO said in its report, "Border Patrol Hiring: Despite Recent Initiatives, Fiscal Year 1999 Hiring Goal Was Not Met" (GGD-00-39).
In 1996, Congress instructed the Border Patrol to increase its ranks by 1,000 agents each year from fiscal 1997 to fiscal 2001. The massive hiring effort aims to nearly triple the size of the agency, from about 4,000 agents at the start of the Clinton administration to 11,000 at the end of 2001.
In 1997 and 1998, the Border Patrol met its hiring quotas, despite attrition rates of 12 percent in 1997 and 13 percent in 1998. The attrition rate was 9 percent this year.
In addition to retention problems, the Border Patrol faces a high drop-out rate among applicants. INS attracted 53,441 eligible applicants in 1999, but 75 percent of those applicants did not show up for a required written examination. Of those applicants who took the exam, about 72 percent failed it. Nearly a third of those who passed the exam did not return for an interview. Forty percent of those who passed the interview failed their background investigation, and then 16 percent of those who passed the background investigation failed or did not show up for a required medical examination.
"It has typically taken six months to one year to hire a Border Patrol agent under INS' standard hiring process," GAO said. "Because the Border Patrol's full performance salary level is low compared to some agencies, INS officials believe its applicants may not be willing to wait six months to a year for a Border Patrol job offer."
To help increase recruitment, the INS hired the same firm that trains Marine Corps recruiters to train more than 200 Border Patrol agents as recruiters. INS also established a toll-free job information line and is working to reduce the length of the hiring process.
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