| Obama Admin Furloughing Border Agents |
| Mar-08-2013 |
| Keywords: obama, sequester, border patrol, 60,000, furlough, border security, port security |
While the Secret Service is reporting already planning the first family's vacation in Martha's Vineyard this some, some 60,000 working under the Bureau of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) are preparing for furloughs.
According to a spokesperson, everyone at CBP is being told that they will be furloughed 14 days, without pay, between mid-April and the end of September.
Those furloughs will jeopardize both our border security and screening operations at both the nation's ports and airports.
In addition to furloughs, employees have been notified that the $595-million in budget cuts at the CBP will result in restrictions in a hiring freeze and elimination of overtime.
According to the Border Patrol agents' union, the National Border Patrol Council, overtime for them is straight time, not time and a half and it is routinely used to make sure shifts overlap and give agents time to return from the field to the stations.
There are roughly 21,000 Border Patrol agents who guard the borders, and another 21,000 in field operations, including crossing booths, seaports, airports and process international packages.
The union claims that the bulk of the budget cuts are falling on Border Patrol.
Ironically, while the border agents are having their pay cut, border station managers are receiving classification upgrades which increases the base pay of the managers at 31 stations. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 12:00 PM Email to a friend |
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