The US Border Patrol

671 Words2 Pages

The US Border Patrol

The U.S. Border Patrol is the organization that polices the entry of illegal

immigrants into our country. The official mission of the United States Border

patrol is to protect the boundaries of the United States by preventing illegal

entry, and by detecting, interdicting, and apprehending illegal aliens,

smugglers, and contraband. Today, the United States Border Patrol consists of

21 sectors. Each sector is headed by a chief patrol agent. There are 145

stations located throughout the continental United States, and in Puerto Rico.

The Border Patrol controls the border by land, sea, and air. The Border

Patrol has jurisdiction across all United States borders and at least 25 miles

off the border. The Border Patrol agents are responsible to check factories

for illegal workers. As of September of 1995, the Border Patrol had 530

agents.

The Border Patrol's efforts may be sufficient but many people believe that

there are many problems in the methods of the Border Patrol. First, many

people think that all of the equipment is costing the taxpayers too much. An

estimation by TIME magazine states that in California alone, $400 million is

spent on healthcare for illegal immigrants. CNN says that the care of illegal

immigrants in one hospital in Jacksonville, Florida costs taxpayers $44.5

million. A Federal Government estimate says that $1.6 billion dollars is

spent on the education of illegal immigrants each year in California alone.

Just think of how much money is spent on illegal immigrants across the

country. Now this is just the cost of the immigrants that get through the

border patrol. These costs could be greatly lowered if the Border Patrol

would do its job. Let alone the cost of the illegal immigrants that manage to

get through the Border Patrol, the Border Patrol alone is costing plenty. In

an overview, some people believe that we are spending too much money on the

border patrol, considering that they simply are not doing their job. We are

giving them so much money to get the latest equipment, but still people are

getting through.

The people in favor of the Border patrol have the basic idea that, yes, the

Border Patrol used to be ineffective, but now due to many improvements in

federal money, manpower, and technology the Border Patrol is very effective.

They say that the reason for all the illegal immigrants in the U.S. is due to

when the Border Patrol was not as effective as it could or should be.

More about The US Border Patrol

Open Document