Border Patrol Jumps to Over 18,000

The Associated Press reports that the Border Patrol now exceeds the number of new recruits promised by President George W. Bush in 2006. There are currently more than 18,000 agents. Many have just been recruited or have less than two years on the job. That raises suspicions as to how effective the new recruits will be. Even the Center for Immigration Studies, no friend of the immigrant, is skeptical. Immigrant activists along the border have long complained about the excess of violence by the Border Patrol and the level of corruption in it. The Government Office of Accountability had questioned the ability of the agency to absorb so many new agents.