CBP personnel prepare migrants for a repatriation transfer at the Hidalgo Port of Entry June 1, 2023 in Hidalgo, Texas. Image: CBP Photo by Jaime Rodriguez Sr.
By: FEDweek StaffStaff increases for the CBP envisioned under a bill (S-1444) pending in the Senate would be a long term project, a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the bill says.
In a cost analysis that often is the last step before bringing bills to floor voting after approval by a committee, the CBO noted that bill would require CBP to develop a border patrol agent staffing model and submit it to an independent research organization for evaluation. The bill would authorize CBP to hire an additional 600 agents each year above attrition until agent staffing levels meet the level recommended by the model.
“Based on estimated attrition and the time needed to hire and train each agent, CBO expects that CBP could, on net, hire an additional 1,600 agents over the 2024-2028 period, but meeting the agency’s staffing needs would take more than five years to accomplish,” it says.
It adds that the agency already is working on a staffing model but that does not take into account a role for an outside oversight group as does the bill.
The bill further would increase overtime pay for agents at the GS-12 level and above, which the CBO said account for nearly two-thirds of the current 19,000 agents. The CBP operates under a unique overtime system in which agents annually can choose to perform no overtime work; 10 hours biweekly with a 12.5 percent increase in salary; or 20 hours biweekly with a 25 percent increase.
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