Goal of Adding 15,000 to Border and Immigration Force Prompts Doubts From Homeland Security Watchdog

WASHINGTON -- The Homeland Security Department's internal watchdog is airing major concerns about the administration's call for 15,000 more border and immigration officers.The inspector general's report, released late Monday, finds that the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement face "significant challenges in identifying, recruiting, hiring, and fielding" the large influx of officers mandated by President Donald Trump in executive orders issued during his first week as president. And that's a problem, the report notes, given that previous hiring surges were dogged by major problems."Although DHS has established plans and initiated actions to begin an aggressive hiring surge, in recent years the Department and its components have encountered notable difficulties related to long hire times, proper allocation of staff, and the supply of human resources," says the report from Homeland Security Department inspector general John Roth, dated July 27.  Continue reading...