1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to investigate the hiring practices at U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and to oppose further funding for their rapid expansion without proper safeguards. The evidence of systemic problems is overwhelming. Between 2005 and 2024, at least 4,913 CBP officers and Border Patrol agents were arrested, enough personnel to constitute the nation's fourth-largest police department, equal to Philadelphia's entire force. Since 2005, CBP has seen one of its own agents or officers arrested every 24 to 36 hours. The per capita crime rate of CBP agents appears to have been higher than that of undocumented immigrants during much of the 2010s. These problems stem directly from the disastrous hiring surge after 9/11, when the Border Patrol doubled from 9,200 agents in 2001 to 18,000 during the Bush administration without adequate vetting, training, or oversight. The agency raised recruiting age limits, sent agents to the field before completing background checks, and lowered standards dramatically. A 2016 advisory group headed by NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton concluded that the CBP discipline system is broken and less rigorous than TSA's system for unarmed airport screeners. History is now repeating itself. ICE is receiving $30 billion in new funding to hire 10,000 new officers, a larger percentage increase than the post-9/11 Border Patrol surge. The training academy has been cut from five months to just 42 days. ICE is no longer interviewing candidates before hiring and is conducting virtual swearing-in ceremonies, promising to catch up on background checks later. This funding can be spent through 2029, meaning this continues on autopilot for four years unless Congress intervenes. I urge you to demand immediate congressional oversight of CBP and ICE hiring practices, require completion of background checks before deployment, restore adequate training standards, and condition future funding on demonstrated accountability reforms. Our communities deserve law enforcement agencies that protect public safety rather than threaten it.