Posted on 06/21/2013 8:44:07 AM PDT by originalbuckeye
The agents we already have are blocked from doing their jobs now. Why will 20,000 new agents help?
It will give Eric Holder’s people gainful union employment, just like the TSA.
Most BP Agents are members of the union ONLY because of the legal protection its provides.
Most BP Agents are not dems and they certainly have no luv or respect for Nappy-Pants and The Big Zero.
He we go again.. In 2008 0bama began immediately throwing tax dollars towards liberal groups and federal hiring, ensuring the growth of his Democrat voter base. Now here he is AGAIN throwing billions of dollars at ACORN, Planned Parenthood, federal workers including 20,000 new Border Patrol agents WHO WILL DO NOTHING BUT STARE AT DIRT.. In 2008 all 0bama cared about was winning in 2012, now here he is doing the same damn thing all over again for Hillary, with the WORST Democrat voter grower scheme of ALL, Immigration ‘reform’.
The sequester supposedly made it necessary to lay off and reduce salaries of current border patrol officers. Why promise more when we aren’t supporting the ones we had? The answer: appearances and politics.
They need to put back up the Bush Era surveilance cameras that Obama took down saying that they didn't work because they couldn't distinguish wild animals from people. They need to figure out how to make that work. It can't be that hard.
Then they need to add drones. A scaneagle only costs $100,000. It only has surveilance cameras and no missles. 600 drones, 3 for every 10 miles, would cost $60,000,000. (My guess is you don't need that many.
The cost of a border fence has been estimated at $49 billion. Border Fence costs My guess is that you can do it much cheaper than that.
Add some electic currents to the fence to tell when it's been cut. A technique easily defeated by those who are aware of it, but it gives you more time to spot them with the drones.
Then station border patrols every 10 miles. That would be 200 border patrols. If you man Each with 5 shifts (3 weekday, 2 weekend), 5 officers each, you'd need 200x5x5 = 5000 agents. That's $200,000,000, freeing up $600,000,000 to pay for all of the above.
And you'd have 5 officers within 5 miles of any given border point and 10 officers within 10 miles of any given border point. 25 officers within 20 miles of any given border point.
Answers from this thread:
1)They need all those new agents to replace the ones they put in jail for doing their job.
2) They need them to arrest Americans trying to escape.
3) Helps the unemployment stats. As does the number people having to take two part time jobs because their fulltime job hours were cut by companies looking for ways to avoid paying for Obamacare.
4) More money for DHS.
5) They’ll be stationed at the border, passing out maps, water bottles, EBT cards, and contact informaton for various DNC “outreach” programs.
6) It is a way to get more unionized people who support Dem causes and know who “butters their toast.”
” 1)They need all those new agents to replace the ones they put in jail for doing their job.”
Folks, we have a WINNER!
#6 is what concerns me.
“6) It is a way to get more unionized people who support Dem causes and know who “butters their toast.””
To be clear, no BP Agents were laid-off nor where their salaries reduced.
Overtime was reduced therefore the over-time pay (AUO) was reduced.
No one lost a GS pay-grade or step pay, and everyone that is a BP Agent kept their job. No one was laid-off.
“They need to put back up the Bush Era surveilance cameras that Obama took down saying that they didn’t work because they couldn’t distinguish wild animals from people. They need to figure out how to make that work. It can’t be that hard. “
Bush-era systems are a suite of sensors, too include MSS trucks. The program you are thinking of was awarded during Bush’s time but never fielded before he left office.
Currently, the BP have cameras and other surveillance technologies. You are talking about the electronic “fence” that was made up of permanently placed towers that had various sensors, and these towers were to link all their sensors to provide a common picture that could be operated centrally. This program was cancelled by Nappy-Pants. Boeing had the contract and the project was developing and becoming viable. . .to include refining the sensor to determine animal from man (and yes, that is VERY hard to do.)
“Then they need to add drones.”
They have a fleet of Predators they use along the border.
Scan-Eagles do not have the loiter time or range necessary to fly the mission, and Scan-Eagles can’t carry the packages the Predators use. . . .those sensors are far more capable with “longer” and more detailed eyes than what a Scan-Eagle can carry.
As I posted before, most BP Agents are not dems and they only belong to the union because of the lawyers they provide (and they need/use then all the time because Nappy-Pants encourages the meHEco government to harass Agents.
The lawyers the union has are not that good but it's all they got. Agents don't make enough to buy a lawyer.
See Post 32.
A vast majority of BP Agents despise Nappy-Pants, The Big Zero and all those illegal-luving politicos out there.
BP Agents are not your usual federal employee. Far from it.
They work alone or in pairs, hours from back-up, using their brain and guts to take-down illegal aliens and drug smugglers. . .they are men of courage, not federal union cowards. They simply have no respect for weak people like this administration.
I am on the side of BP people who are fighting against O's and Nappy's efforts to hobble immigration enforcement. I think the root problem is that US voters do not, as a whole, hold them accountable.
O would like to have an obsequious BP, voters, etc. (that's why he wants to import 3rd world voters). Bribes ans amnesty are his main approaches to accomplish that.
Thank you for the info. However, I personally know a family where the husband is/was border patrol in El Paso. I can clarify from their family what exactly the circumstance is. I remember that his salary was reduced to the point that they are not able to live comfortably, something also about significant job changes. I will check into it; your claims may be correct but don’t quite jive with what this family experienced.
My son is a BP Agent. Injured once on the job. Shot a drug smuggler once, as well.
Anyway, if you check with your friends they will tell you no GS pay-grade (or Step) salary reductions took place.
However, AUO is part of discussions.
I think this is where the confusion is, confusing AOU with salary.
AUO is basically an automatic “overtime” pay, best way to describe it. This is the focus of cost-cutting reductions.
Here is an informative link from a BP website (I am sure your friends in the BP know of it): http://forums.delphiforums.com/borderpatrol/messages/?msg=55549.1
Also, http://forums.delphiforums.com/borderpatrol/messages/?msg=55549.1
Your friends will verify this info.
Border Patrol was operating with “permanent” overtime, it was consistent and it was necessary so they could spend their shift in the field- overtime was used as commute time to and from their area of operations. The overtime was taken away- which amounted to quite a pay cut for agents- also took agents out of the field for X hours per day, commute time to and from the field is now taken out of their shift in the field. They may actually be in the field only 4-6 hours now, less in really remote areas.
It has cut coverage on the border, at any given time their are less agents available. Smuggling has noticeably increased. It has also caused financial hardship for those that lost the overtime that was set up as part of their regular pay- though technically it was always overtime.
It would have made more sense to sequester other personnel but this was all designed to cause the most pain.
To be clear, AUO was not taken away.
It was reduced from 25% to 20%.
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