As illegal crossings over the southern border surge and Maine reckons with a migrant crisis of its own, the U.S. Border Patrol is seeking to hire more agents in Maine as part of a national hiring spree.
“We are currently hiring nationwide, to include all of our locations in Maine,” said Mark Phillips, a Special Operations Supervisor at the Houlton headquarters of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“This is an opportunity that has not come along in over a decade. The USBP usually only hires for southern border locations. Usually, in order to get back to Maine, you have to work down south for a number of years before competing for a relocation,” Phillips said.
The increased activity of federal agents along Maine’s borders has been noted by residents along the Canadian border, but also along Maine’s coastline, which is also patrol via border patrol boats from Kittery to East Port.
The ramped up efforts come as border patrol agents working the northern border have encountered higher rates of illegal crossings than ever before.
In May, border agents assisted in the arrest of six illegal aliens working in Maine for a Mass.-based company at a ReEnergy facility in Stratton.
In March, agents worked with local law enforcement to expose an elaborate human smuggling scheme that led to the deportation of 17 foreign nationals.
In February, the agency processed for deportation seven men arrested at a Home Depot in Rockland who were suspected of participating in an organized theft ring.
According to federal statistics, border agents encountered 16,832 individuals attempting to cross the northern border illegally in May — the highest number of encounters in any month since 2020.
The vast majority of the northern encounters since 2020 have been single adults.
Looking at just the Houlton Sector and Portland Field Office stats, the trend is similar albeit at a smaller scale.
According to the federal numbers, May saw more attempted illegal crossings in Maine (131) than any month on record. That’s more than the total encounters for 2020 (109) and 2021 (80).
According to a federal job listing for the positions, new hires will receive a $10,000 bonus plus an additional $10,000 bonus for taking on a “hard to fill” position, several of which are in northern Maine.
Most residents eligible to work in the U.S. are eligible to apply with the exception of anyone who has a face tattoo.
Successful applicants will receive on-the-job training, including Spanish language education, at a facility in New Mexico.
I recently spent two weeks in Israel with a small group who toured the typical Biblical sites as well as a number border security areas with Tom Homan who was Trump’s former ICE Director.
For all the libtards who may read this, your opinion on border security means nothing (like all of your public policies). You have an agenda which is destroying our county by allowing fake asylees, refugees and illegals as well as terrorist to enter it.
Leftist enablers such as the ACLU was founded by a communist, Catholic Charities resettles unvetted foreigners for money many of whom will NOT assimilate and the Democratic Party wants them as future voters. So, knock off the altruism nonsense. We know exactly what you’re up to.