After years of languishing under the Biden administration, Border Patrol is back. A new report from the Daily Caller shows a surge in recruiting and new applicants in the first few months of the Trump administration. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports a 44% increase in new applications so far this year compared to the same period last year.
The numbers are not surprising, considering it was just days after Trump's election last year that Border Patrol reported a surge in morale. Now, that is translating to results. "We're allowed to actually do our job, which is to go out and enforce the law," says Mike Banks, U.S. Border Patrol Chief, in a recent interview with Fox News. "Under this administration, they have taken the handcuffs off and allowed us to enforce law instead of policies that contradict the law...and so our morale is just through the roof."
Just one year ago, the opposite was happening, as border agents and staff were quitting in droves due to low morale. But what a difference a year, and a change in leadership, makes. "We're seeing some of our highest recruiting numbers ever," says Banks. "During the last four years under the Biden administration we saw a mass exodus from Border Patrol and saw some of our lowest recruiting numbers. Now we're seeing the opposite."
"We're seeing agents pull retirement paperwork in order to continue to stay in and serve, and seeing our recruiting numbers going through the roof."
And it's not just Border Patrol, but other law enforcement and security agencies across the government seeing renewed morale. The Army, Coast Guard, and Secret Service are all reporting large recruiting surges since the start of this year.
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