I began this diary to tell you about the border deaths that continue to occur in spite of the beefed up manpower in the AZ sector of the border. It’s already hit 100 degrees here in the Sonoran desert and a man from Guatemala, was the first (known) death of this summer as reported today in the Arizona Daily Star. A 32 yr. old pregnant woman and her husband were also rescued over the weekend from the deadly heat.
But the latest news is that in order to support the surge (have we heard that word lately?), the Department of Homeland Security is enticing Border Patrol agents to sign up with a private contrator to go to Iraq. This is at the same time that the agency is trying to hire more people to guard our border.
Go ahead, make the jump.
DynCorp, is authorized by DHS to hire our Border Patrol agents.
DynCorp spokesman, Gregory Lagana, said the company is offering $134,100 for a one-year stay, plus a $25,000 signing bonus. The first $90,000 in income is tax free, and housing and food are free.
Such a deal!
Border Patrol agents with at least two years' experience make roughly $55,000.
Last year, Bushboy came to Yuma (for a photo op) to announce Operation Jumpstart, an initiative to supply National Guard troops to Arizona to help the Border Patrol. (Not the AZ National guard, of course, because they are in Iraq.)
Jump Start (Hop, Skip, Catch, Release, Repeat) is meant to supplement US border patrol agents with National Guard soldiers and airmen, while recruiting 9,000 new Border Patrol agents over two years.
Maj. Paul Aguirre, an Arizona National Guard spokesman, said there now are about 2,400 guardsmen in Arizona on any given day.
When Operation Jump Start (Hop, Skip, Catch, Release, Repeat) began, the Border Patrol had about 12,000 agents nationwide. Today there are about 13,5000 agents and according to DHS spokesperson, Russ Knocke, the agency is on track to reach the goal of 18,000. (Let's see, can we do the math? 1,500 added agents this year. 7,500 to go next year. Yeah, we're on the Bushwhacked track.)
Aquirre said 178 new agents who have completed training are in place in the Tucson sector, which now has 2,659 agents. (Only 7,322 to go.)
The decision to send Border Patrol officers to Iraq has not been publicized by DHS. But Aquirre said it is consistent with Chertoff's belief that the mission in Iraq is "vital" to national security interests.
So there you have it. Iraq's border is more important than our own, cause of course......
We're fighting them over there.....
Here's your linkies:
http://www.azstarnet.com/...
http://www.azstarnet.com/...
http://www.azcentral.com/...