Morale Up, but Challenges Remain for Immigration Enforcement

A Customs and Border Protection helicopter pilot searches for illegal immigrants while flying over the U.S.–Mexico border near La Grulla, Texas, on March 15, 2017. John Moore/Getty Images

Hiring an extra 15,000 immigration enforcement agents is one thing; boosting morale in the agencies is another, say affiliated unions.

President Donald Trump’s increased focus on immigration enforcement has been welcomed by enforcement agency unions, who say lax enforcement policies and inadequate leadership have devastated front-line personnel.

“I’ve worked under the past three administrations and I’ve never seen the morale lower than it has been over the past four years,” Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on March 22.

“The men and women that I represent felt under-resourced and underappreciated,” he said. Judd has also been a Border Patrol agent for 19 years.

During the last eight years, ICE employees and officers have been publicly demoralized by their own government.

— Chris Crane, president, National ICE Council 118