Mission, TX, USA - Feb. 16, 2023: Border Patrol agents process a group of 15 Central Americans and Mexicans who crossed the Rio Grande River illegally to enter the U.S. Image: Vic Hinterlang/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAn immigration policy bill up for voting in the Senate would boost staffing and add hiring flexibilities for a number of components of DHS and the Justice Department.
According to fact sheets from Senate sponsors and the White House, the bill would enable the hiring of: more than 1,500 new CBP personnel including Border Patrol agents and CBP officers; 4,300 new asylum officers and additional U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff; 100 new immigration judge teams; and 1,200 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel for functions including enforcement and deportations.
To help fill those positions, direct hire authority would be given to USCIS for positions in its refugee, asylum, and international operations branch and to ICE for positions in its enforcement and removal operations branch. Those agencies further would be given authority to waive the standard offset between annuity and salary for rehiring retirees into affected positions.
Other provisions include raising salary rates for asylum officers; waiving for three years the polygraph testing requirement for Border Patrol job candidates who meet certain standards; and increased training for Border Patrol agents.
The bill also would provide funding for various physical improvements at the worksites of employees involved in immigration-related work, including the installation of more equipment to help detect fentanyl at ports of entry; potential exposure to fentanyl has been a health concern for inspectors.
Partisan differences over other aspects of the measure make its passage in the Senate questionable, however, and House Republican leaders have come out against even bringing it to a vote there.
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