National Treasury Employees Union National President Tony Reardon said that prospects of a pay freeze have been a deterrent for potential U.S. Customs and Border Protection field officers he has been trying to recruit.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) average timeline for hiring field officers has remained prolonged, and several recruitment targets have expressed concern that they could be subject to an imminent pay freeze if they’re hired, National Treasury Employees Union National President Tony Reardon said Tuesday during a House Homeland Security Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee hearing.
Reardon said that prospects of a pay freeze have been a deterrent for potential CBP field officers that he tries to recruit.
A recent memo issued by the executive branch’s Office of Personnel Management extended a pay freeze on employees who make above $164,200 until at least Jan. 19, the date the current continuing resolution to fund the government expires. However, the Trump administration has not publicly suggested that it will freeze CBP officers’ pay.
The last federal pay freeze, which broadly included rank-and-file employees across government, lasted from 2011 to 2013. A pay freeze would be a “nonstarter” for any recruit considering joining CBP as a field officer, Reardon said.
Unstable federal budget prospects for fiscal 2018 add another layer of uncertainty for federal wages and salaries, including for CBP field officers working at ports of entry.
CBP employs about 3,700 fewer field officers than called for by its last Workload Staffing Model, completed in 2014.
About 27 percent of those open positions are vacancies of current congressionally authorized positions. Currently, about 25,000 CBP field officers work at ports across the U.S.
Reardon urged lawmakers to funnel more appropriations to enable CBP to hire more field officers, more quickly, and called for a streamlining of the polygraph phase of hiring.
Polygraphing potential hires takes, on average, nine months to complete, and it takes CBP an average of 16-18 months total to onboard new field officers, Reardon said.
While fellow testifier National Border Patrol Council National President Brandon Judd pointed to the leadership of Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan as a reason for a recent morale boost across Border Patrol, propositions for higher morale among CBP field officers are more complicated.
Recently, there have been “dramatic” increases in the incidence of suicides, domestic violence, and drug abuse among field officers, Reardon said, citing information provided by CBP.
Reardon pointed to cases of exaggerated work hours – including 16-hour shifts for “days on end” and a recent case in which a CBP field officer worked 73 hours of overtime in one pay period – as large factors of strain on officers and their families.
Reardon also noted temporary duty assignments of officers to understaffed ports and cases of field officers doing too much administrative work and too little work on the “front lines” as contributors to workforce strain.
A new round of CBP field officers are being sent from other ports to the “significantly understaffed” Nogales, Ariz., Port of Entry, an activity that started Sunday, Reardon said. This is creating additional expected staff shortages at other ports, including 10 fewer officers at the Orlando International Airport.
The anticipated shortage has led airport officials to bring their CBP staffing concerns directly to Congress, Reardon said.
“I’m choosing my words carefully: Our officers are at a breaking point,” Reardon said. “Yes, we have to take care of staffing; yes, we have to take care of morale, but part of the issue that I think needs to be looked at is what are the root causes of those things? Because they impact, [and] they’re a part of morale, and until we start figuring out the answer to those questions and start taking care of these officers, we’re going to have serious problems.”
Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., during the hearing made the case for scrapping executive branch plans for a full southern border wall, and to instead strengthen border security through spending more on CBP field officers, canine screeners, and new technologies to interdict illicit shipments.
“We also need to make sure that good commerce comes to and from the United States,” Correa said.
Union head underscores CBP port officer shortages
