US Border Patrol Has Lost 25% of Its Agents During Biden Presidency: Report; The Biden Effect? Border Patrol Has Lost a Quarter of Workforce Since 2020 Election

REUTERS

US Border Patrol has lost 25% of its agents during Biden presidency: report

The US Border Patrol has lost nearly a quarter of its ranks in the four years since President Biden was elected, according to a report.

Just over 4,200 border agents have left the federal agency between October 2020 and April 2024, the Washington Examiner reported Thursday, citing new US Customs and Border Protection staffing data.

The depletion in the 19,000-agent workforce is down to a mix of those who quit, agents who hit mandatory retirement age, or ones who opted to retire as soon as they became eligible.

While the number of agents who quit has been steady — between 600 and 900 per year — for the last decade, the number of retirements has shifted under the Biden administration, the data show.

Twice as many have opted to retire as soon as they reached the eligible age, compared to that of the Trump and Obama administrations.

The number of early retirements averaged roughly 257 per year between 2014 and 2020, the outlet reported. Since 2021, the average has come in at 529 agents.

The Biden administration has seen an unprecedented rush on the border with more than 7.6 million migrants apprehended there since Biden took office in January 2021, according to CBP statistics. --->READ MORE HERE

The Biden effect? Border Patrol has lost a quarter of workforce since 2020 election:

The U.S. Border Patrol has lost nearly a quarter of its workforce since Democratic candidate Joe Biden beat incumbent Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, and some agents say it is no coincidence.

More than 4,000 federal agents have left the Border Patrol since October 2020. Twice as many agents have chosen to retire early compared to retirement rates during the Obama and Trump administrations.

In recent years, Border Patrol agents have lamented that the Biden administration’s immigration policy has caused a crisis that has sunk morale, but the new data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that far more agents are choosing to leave than normal.

“The administration is so bad for morale,” said a senior Border Patrol official who was not authorized to speak with media and spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I’m not trying to be political. I’m just speaking facts. It’s become so political. Catch and release is demoralizing for agents.”

Matthew Hudak, recently retired second-in-command of Border Patrol, said work for many agents had become comparable to Groundhog Day, arresting illegal immigrants then releasing them into the United States rather than detaining or removing them. Hudak said it was humiliating for the federal law enforcement agents who had taken an oath to protect the country.

However, the losses for Border Patrol are not solely collateral damage from the political environment. Police organizations nationwide have struggled to recruit and retain officers, while federal agents today are leaving jobs early to earn far more money in the private sector.

Inside the numbers --->READ MORE HERE

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