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U.S. Border Patrol Looks To Hire More Female Employees

http://youtu.be/jmOqmSztfm0

This month the U.S border patrol held a 10 recruitment drive to hire more women. Only 5% of Border Patrol Agents are women, other federal law enforcement agencies have an average of 15% of female employees.

Yesenai Leon has worked with the Border Patrol for 5 years, and before that she was in the military and worked in corrections.  She says the challenges of working in the different male dominated fields are similar.  

“You have to prove yourself,” Leon said. “Not only to them, but to yourself that you are able to do the job. And then after that your just part of the team.”

Leon says she isn’t treated differently by the agents she works with, and their aren’t any differences in the job.

“Danger is not going to see if you are a male or a female,” Leon said. “The dangers that we face are the same.”

Leon works at the Border Checkpoint in Las Cruces, and people driving through frequently comment that she is a female agent.

“Some pleasantly surprised that there is a female on the border patrol,” Leon said. “And some that really can’t believe that that’s the job I’m doing.”

Leon says that when women see female agents working it will encourage them to apply. She says that women crossing the border feel more comfortable when they are investigated by female agents.

“And our agency also prefers that,” Leon said. “It’s not necessary but it is something that we prefer. And females are not just necessary for that, but we want to diversify our agency as well. And in the last few years, since 2011, we have seen a drastic increase of  females crossing the border illegally of 173 percent.”

The recent 10-day push to hire female agents led to 5,545 women applying. And they now start the rigorous hiring process.

“They’re going to go through interviews,” Leon said. “They’re going to go through medical, physical exams. They’re going to go through a polygraph test, written test. So, the process is pretty lengthy.”

Leon says although the process can be difficult, it isn’t more difficult for females.

“Everything in the border patrol as far as the academy, and the hiring process is going to be the same.” Leon said. “It is difficult, but it is going to be difficult for males and females.”

She says that working for the Border Patrol, isn’t just a job it’s a career. And that they offer many benefits and opportunities.

“If you want to work on something different every day, you can,” Leon said. “We have different assignments, ATV patrol, horse patrol, bikes. If you want to be dealing with the intel unit, or the prosecutions department you can do that. So a lot of opportunities.”

She says if you missed the female recruitment dates, you can still apply to any of their openings. And that their will be more job openings at the beginning of the year.
 

Samantha Sonner was a multimedia reporter for KRWG- TV/FM.