Customs and Border Protection officials are recruiting agents to fill a shortage in Calexico. Officials say the area is one of the busiest drug smuggling areas in the nation. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.
Customs and Border Protection spokesman Tony Sosbee says recruiters are trying to sell new agents on Calexico.
Sosbee: We can kind of sort of build them up and say, hey, are you interested in living in the valley? Are you from that desert environment? Could you adapt to that? Now, another incentive is that we can hire them much quicker. If they're applying for Calexico, for that geographic code, pshw, because the need is so extreme.
Sosbee says the amount of narcotics Calexico agents seize ranks among the top compared to border crossings nationwide.
Sosbee: As far as the staff that are there now, they need some help. And that's really what the basis of this is all about.
Agents in Calexico as well as San Ysidro routinely work 16 hour days because of staffing shortages. Sosbee isn't sure why there's a shortage in Calexico nor how many agents they need.
He says, unfortunately, adding more agents won't speed up border wait times.
Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
