BORDER PATROL BEEFS UP STAFF IN WAR ON DRUGS,ILLEGALS

Standards agency is looking for quality and integrity in new hires for the
checkpoints along the Mexico border.

Las Cruces,N.M.-"America's front line fighting the war on drugs," proclaims
a sign off Interstate 25 in Las Cruces. "Thank you for your assistance in
the apprehension of Alien Removals: 2,908; Narcotics: 6,970 pounds; Value:
6,454,360."

Produced by the U.S. Border Patrol, the accounting offers a glimpse into
what the agency confronts. The numbers are not achieved without muscle amid
an unprecedented rush to hire more agents.

With 35 checkpoints along the U.S. southern border - many busier than the
Las Cruces one - agency officials have set another priority: to ensure that
they haven't lowered standards as they undertake their massive recruiting
effort.

"Ensuring the integrity of the Border Patrol is high on our list," said
Eyleen Schmidt, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service
in Washington. "We're going through tremendous growth, and we want to ensure
that every agent we hire is the best person for the job."

Federal legislation approved in 1996 authorized the hiring of 1,000 new
agents annually for five years through the end of 2001. So far this year,
667 new agents have filled posts along the U.S. Mexico border. There are
7,700 Border Patrol agents nationwide. An additional 500 will be hired by
Sept. 30, Schmidt said.

Since the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1996, the
agency's budget has nearly doubled to $877.1 million from $441.7 million at
the end of 1995.

The new hires will be assigned to one of 78 Border Patrol stations in
California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. They will be charged with trying
to seal the southern frontier, the preferred entry point of smugglers and
undocumented immigrants.

The same frontier also has served as a magnet for agents gone bad. From
1993-1997, the agency investigated 65 cases of Border Patrol agents accused
of involvement in corruption, including bribery and extortion, immigrant
smuggling, or selling or improperly issuing INS documents.

The most recent corruption case involved an agent in San Diego, indicted
Feb. 26 on drug smuggling charges. Thomas A. Bair, 28, is accused of
possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. The
indictment specifies he was caught with 600 pounds of marijuana stuffed in
several duffel bags in his Border Patrol van on Aug. 5, 1997.

Bair, who had been with the agency for less than two years, remains in
federal custody.

The Border Patrol also has come under fire from Amnesty International, which
accuses agents of brutalizing immigrants. The agency denies the charge.

At the Las Cruces checkpoint, as many as 6,000 vehicles pass daily.

The sign went up eight months ago as a public relations tool.

"We're trying everything we can to improve the image," said agent Ramiro
Garcia, a 10-year veteran.

Wearing a bulletproof vest, black leather gloves and dark sunglasses, agent
Edy Lujan recently entered a private commercial bus filled with passengers
at the Las Cruces checkpoint. Most were Mexicans on their way to Denver to
visit relatives.

Lujan inspected documents, sifted through overhead luggage compartments and
scanned the faces of passengers looking for signs of deception.

"I make almost double the amount of money with less stress", said Lujan, 25,
formerly with the El Paso sheriff's office. "But this job is still very
dangerous. That's why I like it. It gets my adrenaline going."

Lujan is exactly the kind of person the agency targets in its recruitment
efforts: young, aggressive, with law enforcement experience. The agency also
is interested in people formerly with the military or with college degrees
in criminal justice.

As the federal agency races to hire agents or risk losing its allocation,
officials said they have erected safeguards to ensure the force is a good
one.

Of the 30,000 people who took the Border Patrol exam in 1997, for example,
one-third passed. Of those, only 1,800 made it through the academy, Schmidt
said.

"There is a benchmark," she said. "We know the number of people we need to
target and the number of people taking our test, so we're comfortable with
who we hire."

In just two months in the field, Lujan has come across about 10 suspected
organized immigrant smuggling cases and 20 involving narcotics. The Border
Patrol Academy shows new recruits films about the drug busts and the loads
of cash attached to it. But it doesn't really address the potential for
corruption.

"I think it comes down to the individual's morals, and they do a pretty good
job of detecting that," Lujan said.

New recruits must pass an extensive background criminal investigation, which
is repeated every five years throughout their careers. They also must pass
drug and medical exams.

Even after graduation from the academy, agents remain on probation for 10
months. During that time, they endure weekly quizzes and an in-depth final
exam at the end of the probation period.

"That's where the extensive weeding out takes place," Garcia said.

Lujan was among 48 of 56 applicants in his class who graduated from the
academy. Eight didn't make it for various reasons, including language
barriers, physical ineptness or attitude.

The average age of the new hires is 27. Most are from California, Texas, and
New York. About 25 percent have at least a bachelor's degree, up from prior
years' 10 to 15 percent, Schmidt said.

"The requirements haven't changed," said Garcia.

In its recruitment pamphlet, the agency describes the job as for those who
"love the outdoors, can work independently and who can think on their feet
and act decisively in highly critical situations."

That description is illustrated in the number of drug seizures agents make.

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, they have more than doubled, from 55,242
pounds of marijuana in 1994, for example, to 129,828 last year.

"The Border Academy prepared us for this. Now it's up to us to get the
experience," said new agent Amanda Ramirez, 30. "Like with any other job,
you learn as you go."

Garcia said that while agents eventually work alone, there is always another
one nearby to serve as a backup and to monitor conduct. The agency also
routinely changes time schedules and shuffles duty sites, for both agents
and supervisors, hoping to eliminate the ability of smugglers to establish
relationships with agents.

"We want to make sure the temptation is not there," Garcia said. "It also
protects the agent ...I've been in situations where I've caught $25 million
worth of seizures, and I wouldn't want to be alone with that much money
either.

"The way the system is set up, there is always something or someone around.
The more agents, the more witnesses, right?"

In the end, new and veteran agents agree, the decision to stay clean is
personal.

"I wouldn't be able to go on with my job if I took anything from anyone,"
Ramirez said. "They gave me a job, and they trusted me with a badge and a
gun. They should be able to trust me with the encounters."

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"