71 percent of CBP respondents and 61 percent of ICE respondents said their current work location is not adequately prepared and staffed during normal operations. Image: Thomas Carlson/Shutterstock.com
While the numbers of ICE and CBP agents have held about steady in recent years their workload has increased, creating what an inspector general report called an “unsustainable” situation.
For example, it said the CBP’s Office of Field Operations had about 7,800 officers assigned to the Southwest border in 2021-2022, even as migrant encounters per month more than doubled to more than 14,000 per month over that time.
In a survey to which some 9,300 agents responded, 71 percent of CBP respondents and 61 percent of ICE respondents said their current work location is not adequately prepared and staffed during normal operations, and 88 percent of each said that is the case during migrant surges.
The agencies have been relying on detail assignments and overtime to cover the difference but those practices “have negatively impacted the health and morale of law enforcement personnel, who feel overworked and unable to perform their primary law enforcement duties,” it said. “A common theme of our interviews and survey responses was frustration over lack of work-life balance as well as fatigue caused by the pressure of managing overtime, details, and frequent changes in immigration policies.”
While attrition in recent years has about mirrored government-wide average of 5-6 percent in those positions–including the roughly 3 percent who retire each year–in the survey about one in four respondents indicated they plan to leave within the next year.
The report said that management agreed with recommendations except one to have an outside study done of “the factors within and outside DHS’ control that are affecting workloads and exacerbating staffing challenges.” Management pointed to the existence of a staffing model; the IG responded that the issue is not with the model, but with understaffing.
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