Border Patrol Agent's pay and hours facing a sudden and dramatic 40% cut
Public Comments (8,427)
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Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Sierra Vista, AZ signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Fajardo, PR signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Guilderland, NY signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Marysville, MI writes:
Good Morning Ma'am, I am a Border Patrol Agent stationed in Marysville, MI. I was so happy when I learned that the House and the Senate had passed the recent Continuing Resolution. I'm sure you've heard from other Agents in the district, but just in case you haven't, you should know this: Customs and Border Protection Management and Border Patrol Management in particular were threatening to furlough our law enforcement and administrative arms. Further they were going to cut our pay by 40%. Well the Continuing Resolution was a great reprieve and we who strap on armor, a badge and a gun everyday thank you very much for getting that done. HOWEVER! Our own management has decided to forego the furlough but KEEP the 40% pay cut! All of us who put our lives on the line each day we put that shiny badge, that some consider a target, feel absolutely betrayed by our leadership. And I, a father of four children, homeowner, taxpayer and defender of the homeland am outraged. It is my hope that you can use your pulpit and ask them how the hell, they can justify such a measure with a clear conscience. They tell us it's because our current pay structure doesn't lend itself to easy budgeting due to the unpredictable hours law enforcement officers must often work. Our union came up with an alternative pay plan that while still costing the average line agent about $3,500.00 a year, was at the least survivable. The details of both of these plans are easily retrieved by your staff, but if you would like to see them, please let me know and I'll get them to you. However, our management who seem to want us all to be desk workers with predictable production and time schedules, have rejected both plans and opted for the nuclear option of the 40% pay cut. The most immediate effect will be the lack of presence on the border. Right now agents cover the overlap between the shifts with a flexible 2 hour plan called Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUO). This is the current plan that has worked beautifully for us in the past. With this plan in place, agents who were actively tracking groups of illegal aliens, illegal contraband or other law enforcement activities went right past their 8-hour shift and continued on with the dangerous task of enforcing law in the borderlands. Now, those agents simply will not. If they are working a group of intruders and no agent is close enough to take over the track, the agent will stop, go back to his vehicle and get back to the station to turn in his gear and go home. The group will be called in and hopefully somebody from the next shift will be in the area to pick it up and intercept it. But this is unlikely. I worked my first four years in a very isolated area of Arizona, and I'm talking from experience about this. Those groups will be scot-free and the drugs and contraband they bring will be on our streets in Iowa, Texas, Oregon and Michigan the next day. Any shift overlapping pMar 27th, 2013Someone from Casa Grande, AZ signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from San Diego, CA signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Las Cruces, NM writes:
I am a wife to a Border Patrol agent and for the last 7 years that he has been employed it hasnt been easy. What no one understands is the long hours they put in, the shift changes every month and the little time they have for their families. Its no where fair for them to receive these pay cuts because they risk their lives every day and night to protect all of us from criminals that want to come into our country and destroy our nation. Must be nice for others to get raises and cut our agents pays because it doesnt affect them when they arent the ones out there doing the dirty hard work. You all need to take into consideration how this will affect their families and their physical being. All these agents rely on this AUO to make ends meet and if this is taken away most of us wont be able to pay our mortgage or car payments. Please reconsider what you all are doing to us and our spouses.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelMar 27th, 2013Someone from Buffalo, NY signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from El Paso, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Tucson, AZ signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Las Cruces, NM writes:
I am a wife to a Border Patrol agent and for the last 7 years that he has been employed it hasnt been easy. What no one understands is the long hours they put in, the shift changes every month and the little time they have for their families. Its no where fair for them to receive these pay cuts because they risk their lives every day and night to protect all of us from criminals that want to come into our country and destroy our nation. Must be nice for others to get raises and cut our agents pays because it doesnt affect them when they arent the ones out there doing the dirty hard work. You all need to take into consideration how this will affect their families and their physical being. All these agents rely on this AUO to make ends meet and if this is taken away most of us wont be able to pay our mortgage or car payments. Please reconsider what you all are doing to us and our spouses.REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelMar 27th, 2013Someone from Laredo, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from El Paso, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Brownsville, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Tucson, AZ signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Vail, AZ writes:
CBP is Grossly mismanaging the FULLY funded CR again!!!!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelMar 27th, 2013Someone from Vail, AZ writes:
CBP is Grossly mismanaging the FULLY funded CR again!!!!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelMar 27th, 2013Someone from Tucson, AZ signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Laredo, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Buffalo, NY signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Roseau, MN writes:
This is still happening even though the new CR fully funded our pay and is an obvious attack on the agents from their very own management in DC!REPORT COMMENTS
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No, CancelMar 27th, 2013Someone from Maricopa, AZ signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Eagle Pass, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from South Plainfield, NJ signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Homerville, OH signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Buffalo, NY signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Harlingen, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Laredo, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from El Paso, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Vail, AZ signed.
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Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Beeville, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Newport, WA signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from El Paso, TX signed.
Mar 27th, 2013Someone from Tucson, AZ signed.
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