The Trump administration has spent millions of dollars in recruiting more Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs officers to secure the southern border, but the effort is risking taxpayer money and producing insufficient results, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Trump in 2017 mandated the hiring of 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and 10,000 Immigration and Customs officers, or 2,700 annually, by the end of 2021.
But Customs and Border Protection has filled only about 2,000 positions, says the Times, and hasn't even caught up to the hiring number Congress ordered in 2016 (21,360 agents). Last year, the CBP did add 120 new agents, its highest net gain in five years.
CBP paid Accenture Federal Services nearly $14 million to recruit and hire half that number, but Accenture has only processed 33 hires, according to a scathing report by the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security.
"The hiring surge has not begun," the IG’s office concluded last November.
The report, titled, "Management Alert — CBP Needs to Address Serious Performance Issues on the Accenture Hiring Contract," alleges Accenture — which CBP agreed to pay nearly $40,000 per hire — failed to develop an "efficient, innovative, and expertly run hiring process."
Jobs with the Customs and Border Protection agency have been increasingly difficult to fill, in large part because of the strict vetting process, including a polygraph exam and drug test applicants are required to undergo.
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