Black Outreach at the Border Patrol

The Border Patrol has more than 16,000 agents, and is in a frenzied rush to get to 18,000 by the end of the year. But its ranks include only 158 African Americans -- and only eight of them are black women.

It's not surprising, then, that the New York Times reports that the agency has launched an effort to reach out to blacks, especially in the South. A recruiting team has signed up more than 400 applicants since January, but since the application process is fairly involved, it's hard to tell how many of them actually will end up joining the ranks -- which is a depressing thought, because even if all of them did, the agency's numbers still would be abysmal.

(Hat tip: Matthew Yglesias)