CBP Hires Private Company to Help Hire 5,000 Border Patrol Agents

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Customs and Border Protection is paying a private company $297 million to help hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents.

The move is part of President Trump’s push to put more agents on the ground to protect against illegal immigration.

Since Border Patrol is struggling to meet the hiring mandate, it’s turning to a division of Accenture, an international professional services corporation, for a five-year contract, the San Diego Union Tribune reports.

The Union-Tribune wrote:

The scope of work in the contract requires the company to manage “the full life cycle of the hiring process” from job posting to processing new hires. The company, the agency said in email response to questions, will augment the agency’s existing internal hiring programs.

It also calls for a “hard-hitting, targeted recruitment campaign consisting of promoting the CBP law enforcement careers and opportunities” and a public education campaign about CBP and Border Patrol jobs.

Accenture wil be paid to assist hiring 5,000 Border Patrol agents, as well as 2,000 customs officers and 500 agents for the Office of Air and Marine Operations. The award was made on Nov. 17, with Accenture being selected above four other bidders, federal contract records show.

To skeptics of the hiring push, the Accenture contract makes little sense. “They’re spending almost $40,000 per hire,” said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C. “Just off the bat that seems like a pretty desperate move.”