The nearly 10,000 border patrol agents eligible for retirement by 2028 and static recruitment numbers threaten to undermine future efforts to secure the Southern border, even as the current immigration crisis escalates.
By 2028, a total of 9,828 current border patrol agents will be eligible for retirement, according to numbers provided to Transport Dive by a Customs and Border Protection official. The agency, which has been plagued by a recruitment shortfalls for years, says it is preparing to deal with the fallout if even a fraction of the eligible agents retire on schedule.
Agency policy requires a border patrol officer to retire when he or she reaches 57 years of age and has 20 years of Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) service, according to the agency’s website. Customs and Border Patrol did not share the size of this cohort with Just the News after inquiries, but did share the agency’s work to improve recruitment numbers.