Vice President Kamala Harris promised to “hire thousands more” Border Patrol agents if she’s elected – but allowed the agency to hemorrhage thousands of them as the migrant crisis exploded under her watch.
More than 4,000 have left since October 2020 – twice as many that left during the Obama and Trump administrations, according to the Washington Examiner. Border Patrol currently has about 19,000 employees.
“The morale has never been as low in the Border Patrol, but under the Biden-Harris administration and her current ads, acting like she’s pro-border security is just putting salt on an already gaping wound for the morale of border Border Patrol agents and law enforcement,” former Yuma Border Patrol Chief Chris Clem told The Post.
“Kamala Harris has been bad for morale, for not only law enforcement around the country, but also for our border security personnel since she’s been the vice president.”
The Harris campaign just put out a 30-second ad with the bold proclamation that the Democratic presidential candidate “backed the toughest border control bill in decades” as the so-called “border czar” veep.
“And as president, she will hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking,” the spot says. “Fixing the border is tough. So is Kamala Harris.”
Border Patrol is struggling so hard to recruit new staff that it upped its sign-on bonuses from $10,000 to $30,000. It also began to allow retired agents to reenlist.
The beleaguered agency is also finding it hard to retain agents. As soon as they hit retirement age, they’re out the door, sources said, citing record levels of illegal immigration under the Biden-Harris administration and tanking morale. Some are even choosing to retire early.
“The amount of new agents coming in won’t even be close to the amount that will leave,” one Border Patrol agent said. “Being short-handed in itself will hurt morale even more. It is already hard to get new agents right now because of all the things we are going through. Can’t imagine what it will be like under a Harris administration that just wants to let everybody go.”
The agency also had to hire its first suicidologist because of the surging number of personnel taking their own lives as illegal immigration surged. Suicides among Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorities, which includes Border Patrol, hit its peak in 2022 with 15 employee suicides.
During the Biden administration, the number of migrant encounters at all US borders have surpassed 10 million, according to CBP data, which includes both legal and illegal crossings. In addition to record illegal immigration, the Biden administration has opened up ports of entry for migrants who want to cross using its signature CBP One phone app.
If Harris were to serve as commander-in-chief, she’d further destroy the Border Patrol, agents told The Post.
One even said he’d retire earlier than planned if Harris is elected.
“If Harris gets elected, it will be catastrophic because everybody is just hoping for better times,” the Border Patrol agent said. “My plan right now is that if Trump gets elected I will work those four years and retire the same day as him. If he doesn’t, I will probably go the first day I am eligible, as will most agents that are coming up for retirement.”
A second agent cited Harris’ previous statements that “demonized” Border Patrol, including about the border agents on horseback who were falsely accused of whipping Haitian migrants in Texas in September 2021.
At the time, Harris claimed the photos from the incident reminded her of America’s history of slavery.
“They have demonized and crucified us. Why would anyone want to be part of that? Why would anyone want to work for someone who doesn’t have their back and actively tries to destroy their reputation? PAs are leaving by the thousands,” the second Border Patrol agent.
“All these incentives … yet we still can’t reach good manpower numbers. It all speaks for itself. Kamala and Joe are trash and they have destroyed our border and imported the third world.”
During her tenure in the Biden administration, Harris visited the border once. Border agents who were there for her June 2021 trip to El Paso, Texas, told The Post she saw a sanitized and “rushed” view of their reality and that she “had zero interest in really seeing anything.”
In 2018, then-California Sen. Harris penned a letter with her Democratic colleagues “to reject President Trump’s proposal for funding to hire new Border Patrol personnel at this time,” Fox News reported.