Border Patrol Jobs

Constituted on May 28th, 1924, by a Congress Act to combat illegal immigration, the United States Border Patrol agency employs nearly 53,000 employees (2010 data) and presents bright career opportunities for aspirants seeking a job in border patrolling. It was formed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection - CBP, under the Department of Homeland Security and prides to be the largest law enforcement agency under Department of Homeland security in the US.

Job Description
With illegal immigration as a threat to national peace and security, border patrolling jobs have assumed great significance. The border patrol agencies look out for candidates who've courage and willingness to combat the entry of terrorists and weapons in the US through illegal immigration. Border patrol agents are also responsible for preventing and detecting any illegal smuggling occurring across the US border. Further, these jobs give agents a power to apprehend people who're found guilty of violating US immigration laws. For various US patrol jobs, a candidate must satisfy certain criteria. They are as follows.

• The candidate must be under 40 years of age. Exceptions to this case are if you're a veteran's preference candidate or if you've a federal law enforcement work experience.
• Must be a resident as well as a citizen of US.
• Must be fluent in Spanish or at least must have an ability to learn, comprehend and speak Spanish after being trained in patrol academy.
• Must be in possession of authorized state driver's license.
• Must pass several tests and examinations like criminal background checks, medical fitness tests, drug tests and physical fitness tests.
• After written exam and physical and medical tests, the candidate has to go through an interview that consists of experienced border patrol job agents.

Who Are Not Hired?
Aspiring for border patrol job but have some cases pending against you? Or you've been into drugs related cases? The road is tough ahead as CBP doesn't recruit candidates with following issues:

• Past/present arrests cases.
• Any type of conviction cases.
• Excessive usage of alcohol cases.
• Use of illegal drugs or sale/purchase/distribution of unlawful drugs.

Entrance Exam Structure
The US patrol job tests candidate's competence in three areas viz.:

1. Logical Reasoning
2. Spanish Language (If you're unaware of Spanish language, a specially designed test called ALT, Artificial Language Test in conducted to test your ability to learn Spanish during training period).
3. A detailed assessment of your previous work.

How to Apply
Applying for border patrolling jobs is very easy. When there is a recruitment drive for patrolling jobs, information is uploaded on the CBP website. All you've got to do is to fill the form as per instructions given and wait for exam date. You have to ensure that you're satisfying all eligibility criteria.

What's More?
It is not that only border patrol agents are hired by CBP. There are lots of other careers and job openings for US patrol jobs. Here are some of other careers in border patrolling, that you can consider.

• Border Patrol Agents: 1900 miles of border with Mexico and 5000 miles of border with Canada are safeguarded by nearly 20,000 border patrol agents and this makes it a most sought after position.
• CBP officers: With a strength of 20,000 CBP officers, stretched over 300 ports in US, safety of cargo and passengers remains unchallenged.
• CBP Agriculture Specialist: So you thought how agriculture can be threatened by terrorism? Haven't heard of bio - terrorism and agro - terrorism? Nearly 2,200, CBP agriculture specialists work tirelessly to avert such dangerous threats and besides that, they prevent the outbreak of animal and plant diseases.
• Air/Marine Agents: Called interdiction agents, nearly 1000 air and marine agents work to ensure that illegal occurrences through air and water entry sources are averted.
• Import Specialists: Amassing a wealth of nearly US$30 billion, 2,500 employees spread across US at several entry sources, collect revenue through entry duty taxes that have been established by trade and tariff rules. For US government, this is the 2nd largest source of revenue collection. Checking imported items and merchandise also forms a part of their work. You can work as an import specialist, auditor, international trade specialist, and textile analyst.

There are numerous operational and support designations in almost every stream of this job. Paralegals, budget analysts, management analysts, human resource specialists and so on. All you've got to do is to go to the CBP website and keep yourself updated about the latest recruitment for different state borders. Besides respect, repute and pride of working for your nation, the salary (average rate: US$55,000 annually) is decent with several perks and retirement packages after 18 years of work. So, depending on your interest, you can join this important law enforcement agency. Wish you all the best for a bright future.