About 4-5 years after reading Joseph Wambaugh’s then-newly published “Lines and Shadows” and developing some fascination for the SW Border, I joined the Border Patrol and wound up working in the same areas where the book took place. I spend six years and with the patrol before moving on. At the time, I would say that probably a third of the agents I worked with were motivated to use the patrol as a stepping stone. A fair number were hired from South Texas, had been local cops, and saw the patrol as an opportunity for better pay and retirement. They brought some good experience to the table. Of the two thirds who didn’t necessarily plan on ending their careers any other place but with the patrol, there were those who didn’t like where they were first posted, and at the time, the Border Patrol, and especially the INS, were not not good at making transfers feasible. At the busier line stations, it was virtually impossible to get transferrred somewhere else after you’d “done your time.” The continuous the work load, archaic tactics that were mundane and mind numbing, thoroughly trashed vehicles and equipment, etc, made some guys and gals willing to seek transfers to INS/Customs inspections, or back to state/local jobs to get out of Southern California. At the time, a number of senior management had done time as immigration inspectors. At the time, it was seen as a career path even though they left the covered retirement plan for a while. Most ended up transferring back directly into supervisory positions. I really wanted to become an 1811 criminal investigator, or at least get assigned to the sector anti smuggling unit but the reality was bleak. INS HQS wanted to prevent a mass exodus from the patrol to open 1811 positions, and pretty much blocked us from direct application. The only path open was through USA Jobs. The INS’ “career points” system was flawed and the anti smuggling jobs required a high number of them. It was downright difficult to get the necessary assignments, temporary duties, or training necessary to receive points when you worked a line station where illegal crossing traffic was high. Management’s thoughts were that you were needed on the line, not in training, not on a TDY assignment elsewhere. Implementation of a new operational plan brought some fulfilling career opportunities for me, but I was also wise or cynical enough at the time to understand that it couldn’t last... and didn’t and I was back sitting parked along the fence watching it rust. I gracefully moved onto another organization. I do see that some of the young kids who came on during the time I was starting to look elsewhere are now chiefs or senior management. I don’t regret the path I followed. I got some great uniformed law enforcement experience from the Border Patrol.
