Oscar
Charleston, SC
Male, 31
Spent a bit over four years (2006-2010) serving as a Border Patrol Agent in Tucson Sector, AZ: the busiest sector in the country. Worked numerous positions, and spent the last year and a half operating/instructing ground radar installations. Duties included: field patrols, transport, processing, control room duties, transportation check, checkpoint operations, static watch duties, etc.
The vast majority of our canines (at least our normal detection/tracking canines) were actually imported from the German Border Police (Bundesgrenschutz) canine school. Most of the dogs we received had actually failed bite-dog school, and had been repurposed. This is why our K9 operators use many commands in German, as opposed to English.
Right before I left the BP was starting its bite-dog program, but they had a silly politically correct name for it (Patrol K9's was the term they used) because they were afraid of scaring people (?). I do not know where the bite-dogs were sourced from.
All of the dogs I worked with were from the German schools.
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Not sure, I have no experience in status applications. That would be a question better addressed to the officers you're dealing with during the application process.
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That question will come up during your background investigation and/or polygraph test. I'm not sure what effect a positive answer would have in that situation. It is something that will come up for any government job which involves any level of security clearance though, and I doubt it can help.
Unfortunately in certain lines of work - those things you do on purpose or by accident as a young person can come back and bite you in the ass. I know several of my fellow agents had smoked weed before joining the BP, but I don't know if they answered truthfully during their background investigations.
Personally I think weed should be legalized, but I imagine it might depend on the person doing your background investigation.
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Yep.
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You never end up dehumanizing people. That being said, business is business, work is work, and the law is the law. Our job isn't to hug and nurture people, it's to apprehend them and secure the border as best as possible.
In that regard you become like most seasoned EMT's and nurses...you're doing your job. The emotional baggage is best left behind. Anyone in a line of service (EMT's, firefighters, paramedics, cops etc.) definitely gets very accustomed to "crap". You run into enough tragedies, evil, wickedness, violence, abuse etc. that you become quite accustomed to it. You just accept it and move along with your job.
The people we apprehended were dealt with quickly, efficiently and professionally. We don't coddle people, but we don't beat them or treat them like animals etc.
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US citizens will be prosecuted for human trafficking/smuggling charges.
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Varies due to conditions of the smuggling (how many, how dangerous, previous criminal record, etc.).
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