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Border patrol expanding its horizons

Published: Aug 15, 2008
01:02 EST

Harrisburg

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By SUSAN E. LINDT, Staff

U.S. Border Patrol agents travel a dirt road last month between Tijuana,Mexico, and San Diego.

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Looking for a job in a sort of exotic locale?

For the first time, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection is recruiting locally for border patrol agents.

"Our agents protect America in America," said Joe Abbott, national recruiting director, whose office will be looking for new employees in Harrisburg on Saturday.

Specifically, the available jobs include patrolling 7,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian international land borders and 95,000 miles of shoreline.

Border patrol agents are responsible for detecting, preventing and apprehending terrorists, undocumented immigrants and smugglers of immigrants or illegal goods near borders.

In 2006, President George W. Bush announced he would add 6,000 border patrol agents by the end of 2008, bringing their ranks to 18,000 — the largest border patrol expansion in history.

To date, 16,850 agents are on board, so there still are plenty of vacancies if you can pass a multitude of tests.

Recruiters will be on hand from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Crown Plaza Harrisburg Hotel, 23 S. Second St., to ease the process. They'll answer applicants' questions; help applicants complete online applications; offer test-taking tips, practice tests and evaluation; and share their own experiences with the agency.

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Showing 5 most recent comments out of 16 total TalkBack comments about this article
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"Why'd you get punched?" 4wheeler

"I'm imagining you get punched quite a bit, based on the way you post." reese
Pay close attention poor readers. When I said I knew enough Spanish to get punched, and then some, I was alluding to a previous poster's comment that they knew enough Spanish to get punched. In case you never heard that useage before, it means you know some swear words, and anatomical features.
I haven't been punched in at least 15 years. Odd, huh?
Interesting first post CUBSFAN3150, hopefully more to follow.

Whirlwind

QUOTE(SusQRiverRat @ Aug 16 2008, 11:36 AM)

Nice rant, but totally off base, there cubby.

The two Agents you mentioned were screwed as much by their own actions as they were by the Court. I don't agree with the punishment they recieved but they did as much to put them in jail as did the prosecutor.

Had they told the truth about the circumstances surrounding the shooting, they still would have recieved punishment, but chances are they wouldn't be in prison. Instead they chose to "elaborate" the details and got caught in their lies.

The prosecutor in the case, Johnny Sutton, has a track record of going hard on Law Enforcement. I feel he is wrong, but in this case the defendants helped his cause.

Tactically it was a bad shoot. The bad guy was running away. Would I have done the same thing? Yes I probably would. But I would have told the truth about the circumstances.

Had they been truthful, they likely would have lost their jobs, but not be serving prison time.

IMHO they should be pardoned by Bush and their sentences commuted, but they shoud never be allowed to wear the uniform again.

edit:spelling

CUBSFAN3150

I AGREE IT WAS A BAD SHOOT. THEY SHOULD HAVE AIMED BETTER AND PUT THE S.O.B. IN THE GROUND. THE SUPERVISORS OBVIOUSLY WERE NOT MUCH HELP. THEY WERE THERE TO CLEAN UP THE EVIDENCE BY ASSISTING IN RECOVERING THE SHELL CASINGS.

IN THE MEAN TIME THE VICTIM( HA HA ) WAS COMING BACK TO THE U.S. FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT BEING PAID FOR BY GUESS WHO. HE HAS BEEN SINCE ARRESTED AGAIN FOR BRINGING DRUGS INTO THE U.S. ALTHOUGH I AM NOT SURE WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN.

ALL OF THIS PRETTY MUCH SANCTIONED BY OUR GOV'T. WHAT GIVES?

THE PUNISHMENT THESE TWO WERE GIVEN WAS WAY ABOVE JUSTIFICATION. ONE HAS TO BE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. THEIR FAMILIES ARE ARE IN DIRE STRAITS.

LIKE YOU SAID, THEIR SENTENCES SHOULD BE COMMUTED. IF ENOGH PEOPLE RAISE A STINK, MAYBE SOMETHING WILL BE DONE. THEY WILL SURELY NEVER WEAR THE UNIFORM AGAIN, BUT WILL THEIR LIVES EVER BE THE SAME?

CUBSFAN3150

QUOTE(CUBSFAN3150 @ Aug 16 2008, 05:08 PM)

I AGREE IT WAS A BAD SHOOT. THEY SHOULD HAVE AIMED BETTER AND PUT THE S.O.B. IN THE GROUND. THE SUPERVISORS OBVIOUSLY WERE NOT MUCH HELP. THEY WERE THERE TO CLEAN UP THE EVIDENCE BY ASSISTING IN RECOVERING THE SHELL CASINGS.
IN THE MEAN TIME THE VICTIM( HA HA ) WAS COMING BACK TO THE U.S. FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT BEING PAID FOR BY GUESS WHO. HE HAS BEEN SINCE ARRESTED AGAIN FOR BRINGING DRUGS INTO THE U.S. ALTHOUGH I AM NOT SURE WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN.

ALL OF THIS PRETTY MUCH SANCTIONED BY OUR GOV'T. WHAT GIVES?

THE PUNISHMENT THESE TWO WERE GIVEN WAS WAY ABOVE JUSTIFICATION. ONE HAS TO BE IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. THEIR FAMILIES ARE ARE IN DIRE STRAITS.

LIKE YOU SAID, THEIR SENTENCES SHOULD BE COMMUTED. IF ENOGH PEOPLE RAISE A STINK, MAYBE SOMETHING WILL BE DONE. THEY WILL SURELY NEVER WEAR THE UNIFORM AGAIN, BUT WILL THEIR LIVES EVER BE THE SAME?

The cover-up what was got them put in prison, not so much the shooting. Here's a little tidbit that the general public isn't aware of and I will now let you know about:

The HK 40 cal.semi-auto pistol that Border Patrol Agents carry contains a RFID chip in the hand grip portion of the frame. They call it a "round counter". It can be used for other functions, such as locating a lost/stolen weapon, but it's primary function is counting rounds fired from the gun. How do I know this, you ask? Because I have seen this little wonder of modern technology. My neighbor is the armorer for his station as well as a part time range officer. We shoot together frequently and clean our guns at the same table. It's a pretty amazing piece of hardware; smaller than a dime and it looks like the "Smart Chip" on a satallite reciever card or one of those American Express cards.

Cleaning up the scene and diposing of the spent rounds only served to dig them in deeper. No Law Enforcement Agency in the country advocates or allows firing on an unarmed, fleeing suspect.

If you want to put forth an argument about the abuse of power by the Attorney General for the Western District, I can cite a better example than these two guys. Johnny Sutton (the Asst. AG in question) has a hard on for law enforcement, and should not have his job, but the Border Patrol case isn't the reason.

This case: http://www.amw.com/features/feature_story_detail.cfm?id=1408 does better to show the contempt he has for Law Enforcement.

Gilmer Hernandez was a good cop. It's all he ever wanted to do with his life. His dreams were destroyed and he was put in jail for 9 months for doing his job. Even his boss stood behind him regarding his actions that night. Unfortunately, our Federal Prosecutor did not.
Oh, and the caps lock posting thing is bad ettiquite: makes people think you're shouting!

SusQRiverRat

QUOTE(SusQRiverRat @ Aug 16 2008, 07:30 PM)

The cover-up what was got them put in prison, not so much the shooting. Here's a little tidbit that the general public isn't aware of and I will now let you know about:

The HK 40 cal.semi-auto pistol that Border Patrol Agents carry contains a RFID chip in the hand grip portion of the frame. They call it a "round counter". It can be used for other functions, such as locating a lost/stolen weapon, but it's primary function is counting rounds fired from the gun. How do I know this, you ask? Because I have seen this little wonder of modern technology. My neighbor is the armorer for his station as well as a part time range officer. We shoot together frequently and clean our guns at the same table. It's a pretty amazing piece of hardware; smaller than a dime and it looks like the "Smart Chip" on a satallite reciever card or one of those American Express cards.

Cleaning up the scene and diposing of the spent rounds only served to dig them in deeper. No Law Enforcement Agency in the country advocates or allows firing on an unarmed, fleeing suspect.

If you want to put forth an argument about the abuse of power by the Attorney General for the Western District, I can cite a better example than these two guys. Johnny Sutton (the Asst. AG in question) has a hard on for law enforcement, and should not have his job, but the Border Patrol case isn't the reason.

This case: http://www.amw.com/features/feature_story_...cfm?id=1408 does better to show the contempt he has for Law Enforcement.

Gilmer Hernandez was a good cop. It's all he ever wanted to do with his life. His dreams were destroyed and he was put in jail for 9 months for doing his job. Even his boss stood behind him regarding his actions that night. Unfortunately, our Federal Prosecutor did not.
Oh, and the caps lock posting thing is bad ettiquite: makes people think you're shouting!

Thanks for the additional info. A very interesting case to say the least. Also thanks for the tip about the caplock. I'm new at this. Will be looking forward to more interesting conversations in the future.

CUBSFAN3150

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