Border Patrol Petition

[HisOwnHero]

If any of you have time, please take a minute to help out our brothers in green and sign the below petition. Cliff notes version is basically, the Border Patrol is looking at reducing the pay of Border Patrol Agents in the ballpark of 35%-40% through various pay cuts.

The U.S. Border Patrol suffers from one of the highest attrition rates in law enforcement.

Some of the most qualified agents choose to leave the Border Patrol to pursue alternative careers elsewhere. This is due to a multitude of reasons. One of which is the areas where they live and work. These areas are mainly located in rural border communities along the southwest border, with limited access to education, health care, and other amenities.

The nature of the job is grueling, with agents working long hours often in extreme conditions. The job itself is inherently dangerous, as highlighted by the fact of the number of agents killed in the line of duty.

We need the best qualified men and women protecting our nation's borders from terrorists, terrorist weapons, and narcotics smugglers.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/prevent-reduction-border-patrol-agents-pay-and-benefits-prevent-attrition-and-corruption/qFXtCFgX?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl

[veeklog]

Signed; as an ex-PA, I know how rough it is out there and to further reduce pay would literally destroy San Diego Sector. Good luck, brothers!

[Rickrock1]

Orale we got their backs. Signed and delivered

[Green Flash]

The whole process took about 1 minute. Thanks guys!

[gumby]

In the 80's Reagan dropped the USBP pay grade from GS-7 to GS-5. What do they want to lower it to now?

[veeklog]

I was a GS-5 when I first started and I could barely feed myself. I think they want PA's to go back on food stamps like they did at that time

[billmaykafer]

since obama opened the floodgates,do we need them?

[iceman710]

In the 80's Reagan dropped the USBP pay grade from GS-7 to GS-5. What do they want to lower it to now?

Currently Border Patrol Agents are GS-12's not 7 or 5's, Napolitano gave them 12's across the board with out an opm audit to warrant the upgrade. (heck BLM park rangers are only 7's and they work their butts off just as much!) They did not budget correctly and now are screwed, the officers reaped the benefits and in the end they can blame the agency.

The problem is they can take away AUO anytime they want, essentially it is not part of the base salary, Which is why it's always said to not live off of AUO and OT...but who can say they really follow that rule. AUO which includes FLSA which totals to 33 percent of additional pay. What does suck is being stuck between a rock and a hard place, everyone taking furloughs once a pay period or losing 4300 agents. Maybe the only good thing is they are not touching their GS-12 base salary.

Everyone in the FED is taking a hit, yet Obama still things everything is fine and dandy and feels letting 11,000,000 illegals stay and become citizens.

I'll make my way and sign it...I hope they realize the hardships they are putting on the American citizens who are working for the government.

[Eikbyrnir]

Currently Border Patrol Agents are GS-12's not 7 or 5's, Napolitano gave them 12's across the board with out an opm audit to warrant the upgrade. (heck BLM park rangers are only 7's and they work their butts off just as much!) They did not budget correctly and now are screwed, the officers reaped the benefits and in the end they can blame the agency.

The problem is they can take away AUO anytime they want, essentially it is not part of the base salary, Which is why it's always said to not live off of AUO and OT...but who can say they really follow that rule. AUO which includes FLSA which totals to 33 percent of additional pay. What does suck is being stuck between a rock and a hard place, everyone taking furloughs once a pay period or losing 4300 agents. Maybe the only good thing is they are not touching their GS-12 base salary.

Everyone in the FED is taking a hit, yet Obama still things everything is fine and dandy and feels letting 11,000,000 illegals stay and become citizens.

I'll make my way and sign it...I hope they realize the hardships they are putting on the American citizens who are working for the government.

I'm sure the fact high level feds, congress and so on, not taking any big cut backs helps him and everyone feel good.

[HisOwnHero]

Congress will still be working getting paid throughout sequestration unlike all other fed employees.

Like Iceman said, Border Patrol Agents are currently at the GS-12 level. They do not however get traditional overtime. They get something called Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUO). Basically instead of getting paid time and a half or double time, they get paid at max 25% of their salaries depending on how many hours they worked. An average week for a Border Patrol Agent is 50 hours minimum. The reason so many hours are needed in an average day is to cover the border and not leave it open. At a normal PD, the time you leave roll call/muster and what have you until the time you reach your assigned zone often isn't too long or it is at least close enough that an overlapping shift works. In the Border Patrol, the area is so large that it can take 2 to 2.5 hours just to reach your assigned area sometimes after leaving roll call. If an agent leaves his area early enough to go back to the station, turn in his gear and be out the door by the 8 hour mark, he is leaving an area open without a visible LE presence for 4-5 hours (time he travels back to the station and the time it takes oncoming shift to get out there). A LOT can happen in 4-5 hours.

A lot of these guys left their homes, friends and families to work in crappy border towns where there is little to no health care, poor schools for their kids, locals that are completely 100% anti-American etc. It is not easy on family life whatsoever (although no LE job is as most of you know) and the job is extremely hard and exhausting in the heat day in and day out. Now take away the premium pay and the extra pay incentives that was offered to take the job in the first place, and you are left living in a crappy border town amongst hostiles for the same money you could have been making back in your home town amongst family and friends at a local PD or other place of work.

Thank you everyone who has signed and or thinking about signing.

[Baconator]

Such a thankless job. I was going through the process a few years ago and I realized that these guys are just stuck swinging with their dick in the wind, in the desert, half hoping that they don't get screwed over if something goes down. And that was during the Bush years. I'll sign, but they don't care about you guys. Thanks for what you try to do though.

[Axewound]

Thanks. We all know nobody cares about us. It is what it is. But we go to work anyway.

[Nefarious]

Couple more days we will see how this all plays out

At the border as well... not just our brothers in Green

[zuchaka]

they should get a raise if anything signed

[Green Flash]

Lets not forget the public safety cost of cutting manpower on our border and ports. If this happens you will see an influx of drugs and aggrated felons making their way into our cities. I'm sure that the drug trafficking organizations are watching for congress to make a decision just as much as the agents are.