Trump ordered 15,000 new border and immigration officers — but got thousands of vacancies instead

[Rogue Valley]

Trump ordered 15,000 new border and immigration officers — but got thousands of vacancies instead

1/27/19
Two years after President Trump signed orders to hire 15,000 new border agents and immigration officers, the administration has spent tens of millions of dollars in the effort — but has thousands more vacancies than when it began. In a sign of the difficulties, Customs and Border Protection allocated $60.7 million to Accenture Federal Services, a management consulting firm, as part of a $297-million contract to recruit, vet and hire 7,500 border officers over five years, but the company has produced only 33 new hires so far. The president’s promised hiring surge steadily lost ground even as he publicly hammered away at the need for stiffer border security, warned of a looming migrant invasion and shut down parts of the government for five weeks over his demands for $5.7 billion from Congress for a border wall. The Border Patrol gained a total of 120 agents in 2018, the first net gain in five years. But the agency has come nowhere close to adding more than 2,700 agents annually, the rate that Kevin McAleenan, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, has said is necessary to meet Trump’s mandated 26,370 border agents by the end of 2021. “The hiring surge has not begun,” the inspector general’s office at the Department of Homeland Security concluded last November. “We have had ongoing difficulties with regards to hiring levels to meet our operational needs,” a Homeland Security official told The Times.

Border security agencies long have faced challenges with recruitment and retention of front-line federal law enforcement — in particular Border Patrol agents — much less swiftly hiring 15,000 more. In March 2017, McAleenan said Customs and Border Protection normally loses about 1,380 agents a year as agents retire, quit for better-paying jobs or move. Just filling that hole each year has strained resources. Beyond that, given historically low illegal immigration on the southern border, even the Homeland Security inspector general has questioned the need for the surge. On Jan. 25, 2017, five days after Trump was inaugurated, he signed executive orders to hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, vowing to beef up border security and crack down on illegal immigration. “Today the United States of America gets back control of its borders,” Trump said as he signed the orders. Today, Customs and Border Protection — the Border Patrol’s parent agency — has more than 3,000 job vacancies, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. That’s about 2,000 more than when Trump signed the orders, according to a Government Accountability Office report on CBP’s hiring challenges.

In November 2017, the CPB awarded Accenture Federal Services a $297 million contract to vet and hire 7,500 border agents over 5 years. To date, the contract has yielded 33 new hires.

And now Trump demands that Congress fork over $5.7 billion for a "border wall" without any studies on why this funding is needed now and exactly how it will be utilized.

Related: Management Alert — CBP Needs to Address Serious Performance Issues on the Accenture Hiring Contract

 

[RabidAlpaca]

That's about 10 million dollars per border agent. I don't think we've seen this level of corruption In a long time.

These people then expect the taxpayer to fork over many more billions of dollars for a wall there's no plans for. Nobody can say what it will cost per mile, how the wall will be constructed, by whom it will be constructed, or how long it will take. You're not getting showered with free money you can waste until you've first done your homework, GOP.

 

[holbritter]

Trump ordered 15,000 new border and immigration officers — but got thousands of vacancies instead

In November 2017, the CPB awarded Accenture Federal Services a $297 million contract to vet and hire 7,500 border agents over 5 years. To date, the contract has yielded 33 new hires.

And now Trump demands that Congress fork over $5.7 billion for a "border wall" without any studies on why this funding is needed now and exactly how it will be utilized.

Related: Management Alert — CBP Needs to Address Serious Performance Issues on the Accenture Hiring Contract

Reading the whole article plus the report from the OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security, it appears the problem lies in the company contracted to do the hiring, Accenture. They are failing to provide what they promised when contracted.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Reading the whole article plus the report from the OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security, it appears the problem lies in the company contracted to do the hiring, Accenture. They are failing to provide what they promised when contracted.

True, but CBP hired Accenture. Did they vet this company? 33 agents hired in a year span and no supervisors over at CBP noticed this glacial pace? A measure of responsibility rests with the CBP.

 

[holbritter]

True, but CBP hired Accenture. Did they vet this company? 33 agents hired in a year span and no supervisors over at CBP noticed this glacial pace? A measure of responsibility rests with the CBP.

Agreed. Happens way too often with govt. contractors.

Edit: I mean with govt. vetting contractors.

 

[Hawkeye10]

True to form we have it seems learned nothing from the $840 Million Healthcare.gov debacle.

We be hard headed.






https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/07/obamacare-website-has-cost-840-million/440478/

 

[RabidAlpaca]

Reading the whole article plus the report from the OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security, it appears the problem lies in the company contracted to do the hiring, Accenture. They are failing to provide what they promised when contracted.

Wildly incorrect assessment. The responsibility lies solely on the CBP and the Trump administration for allowing a contract where 300 million dollars is handed out without any checkpoints or guarantees for delivery. It would've made more sense to pay them per hired candidate instead of showering them with 300 million taxpayer dollars for absolutely nothing.

If this is a taste of how Trump spends money on border affairs, then he shouldn't be getting a dime more. Fraud, waste and abuse.

 

[TheParser]

There are thousands of less stressful jobs that are now available, so why would people be eager to relocate to the border for a job that will only result in their being demonized by activists and not being given the tools (such as a wall, barrier, etc.) to do the job?

 

[PeteEU]

Hiring a private company to find government workers...ever heard of the classifieds?

Sent from my Honor 8X using Tapatalk

 

[RabidAlpaca]

There are thousands of less stressful jobs that are now available, so why would people be eager to relocate to the border for a job that will only result in their being demonized by activists and not being given the tools (such as a wall, barrier, etc.) to do the job?

You Trump supporters should rise up and fill the positions if you really believe in the cause. You always seem to expect "someone else" to pay for and guard the wall but aren't willing to put your own skin in the game.

Could be fun, you get to hunt brown people down, sounds like a Trumpist dream job!

 

[HonestJoe]

That's about 10 million dollars per border agent. I don't think we've seen this level of corruption In a long time.

About 10 thousand per agent, not 10 million. At 10 million per agent, $60 million would only get you six.

 

[marke]

Trump ordered 15,000 new border and immigration officers — but got thousands of vacancies instead

In November 2017, the CPB awarded Accenture Federal Services a $297 million contract to vet and hire 7,500 border agents over 5 years. To date, the contract has yielded 33 new hires.

And now Trump demands that Congress fork over $5.7 billion for a "border wall" without any studies on why this funding is needed now and exactly how it will be utilized.

Related: Management Alert — CBP Needs to Address Serious Performance Issues on the Accenture Hiring Contract

It has taken Mueller going on 3 years and upwards of $50 million dollars to discover that Trump did not collude with Russians, and democrats claim they cannot provide necessary border barriers until the finish trying to figure out why such barriers are necessary and what those barriers might cost. Never mind the slow democrats. If Trump and the republicans can get the project moving without them then let them do it.

 

[Rexedgar]

About 10 thousand per agent, not 10 million. At 10 million per agent, $60 million would only get you six.

Well, I feel better now....:mrgreen:

 

[Mycroft]

Yeah...what we need is a "study"!

 

[washunut]

True, but CBP hired Accenture. Did they vet this company? 33 agents hired in a year span and no supervisors over at CBP noticed this glacial pace? A measure of responsibility rests with the CBP.

What exactly do you know or not know about Accenture. Are they some fly by night company created by one of Trump's friends as an example?

 

[ttwtt78640]

About 10 thousand per agent, not 10 million. At 10 million per agent, $60 million would only get you six.

He was morally correct so a minor math errror (just a zero, after all) was not important.

 

[Sampson Simpson]

"historically low illegal immigration at the southern border" and yet right wing morons are still calling for a wall. I can't stand living with such POS

 

[Abbazorkzog]

CPB, you say? Look up the Ronald Reagan Building. Waaaay creepier than any lamestream "Alt" Righty CT

 

[Lutherf]

What exactly do you know or not know about Accenture. Are they some fly by night company created by one of Trump's friends as an example?

They're Russian.

 

[Thoreau72]

That's about 10 million dollars per border agent. I don't think we've seen this level of corruption In a long time.

These people then expect the taxpayer to fork over many more billions of dollars for a wall there's no plans for. Nobody can say what it will cost per mile, how the wall will be constructed, by whom it will be constructed, or how long it will take. You're not getting showered with free money you can waste until you've first done your homework, GOP.

It's a good think he's "draining the swamp" :mrgreen:

 

[Acadia]

Yeah...what we need is a "study"!

This so-called "study" that the Left keeps insisting upon is just another red-herring talking point to delay and ultimately fail to fund the wall.
Why can't we use the studies which were done in 2013, when Senate Democrats approved 700 miles of fencing? I mean, there's got to be studies which show how much is needed and where fences are needed, right?
If they are demanding studies for 230 miles of fencing, surely Democrats demanded studies for 700 miles when they approved that in 2013?

They wouldn't be moving the goal posts...would they?

 

[ttwtt78640]

Yeah...what we need is a "study"!

Yep, we need to create a new government program, staffed with hundreds (perhaps thousands) of (contracted) experts, to study the issue. In order to ensure that the experts are properly vetted we need to select a reputable (contractor) firm to do that extremely important vetting. Before we can hire such a vetting contractor we need a study to determine the the best way to find a qualified vetting contractor.

Several competing, but all having some serious merit, bills to get this very important process started have been assigned to numerous committees in both the House and the Senate. Should any of those bills end up being approved by any one such congressional committee they will be consecutively and subsequently assigned to at least two other congressional committees for further study. Any amendments (including, but not limited to, additions, deletions and/or spelling changes) must be approved by the prior committee before being returned to the altering committee for final approval.

Should any such bill emerge it will be placed in the queue for a Wednesday afternoon floor vote to determine whether it should go back to a randomly selected committee for further study. This process is to ensure that all major campaign contributors, and their assigned lobbyists, have ample opportunity to rewrite portions of this extremely important bill to suit their needs - the public deserves no less from it's elected representatives.

Of course, we may need to do a bipartisan study to determine if the current bill writing, amending and/or approval process is up to the task of generating quality legislation, in a timely manner, which best reduces (or may even eliminate) any major chance of introducing fraud, waste or abuse of the public trust. In the interest of full transparency, which is demanded for such a matter of public interest, all such debate shall be scheduled when CSPAN has ratings above a 2/3 share of that any competing media outlet during the selected time slot.

 

[apdst]

It's hilarious watching Liberals whine about government inefficiency.

 

[Sampson Simpson]

It has taken Mueller going on 3 years and upwards of $50 million dollars to discover that Trump did not collude with Russians, and democrats claim they cannot provide necessary border barriers until the finish trying to figure out why such barriers are necessary and what those barriers might cost. Never mind the slow democrats. If Trump and the republicans can get the project moving without them then let them do it.

First off, they are proving collusion, you can lie all you want. The indictments are piling up

Oh, like Begazi anbd emails? How many millions did the republicans spend because of a blow job?

Yeah, your credibility is non-existent

 

[JasperL]

What exactly do you know or not know about Accenture. Are they some fly by night company created by one of Trump's friends as an example?

I think your point is they're not, which is clear. My guess is they're failing because of the job description and the pay not matching what the market is demanding.... Seems to be a fairly easy problem to diagnose, unless the market for immigration jobs somehow differs from the market for all other jobs in the world where if you can't find employees for a given job at $X, you raise the offer price to $X + $Y.