Reports of Questionable Training at El Cajon Station

Training for a career in the US Border Patrol should be hard. If you work hard in training, the real thing should be easier. But training should be conducted with a purpose and a goal. Field Training Officers have a difficult and thankless job, but it is not a license to impose their will upon trainees. It is not the place to do the wrongs unto others that may have been done to you. Just because you had to do something when you were a trainee doesn't make it right or useful. Hazing trainees has no place in the Border Patrol.

Recently Local 1613 has become aware of questionable training methods being used at the El Cajon Border Patrol Station. Trainees are being run up and down trails not to learn the area or to work alien traffic, leaving us with the question: what is the point? Is it punishment or is there some training value to it? No one in the union is opposed to hard training, only pointless training that can get agents injured or killed. The weather in eastern San Diego county during July is conducive to heat emergencies. Bulletproof vests and poorly ventilated uniforms only make the problem worse.

On Sunday, July 5, 2009, agents were further subjected to training methods of little value. Trainees were forced to perform push-ups on hot blacktop which resulted in some agents injuring their hands. To literally add insult to injury, a Supervisory Border Patrol Agent took photos of this activity, yet did nothing to stop it. Again, where is the training value in any of this?

This kind of behavior accomplishes nothing except to placate the egos of those overseeing the trainees. It is obvious that the field training officers have not been properly trained and that management is condoning their actions. For this the FTOs should be removed from their position and the supervisor of the unit held accountable.

Local 1613 is also aware that trainees are being pressured and intimidated not to "rat" on anyone now that this situation has come to light. Any interference with the ability of an agent to exercise their right to union representation will be viewed as a serious matter and will be pursued in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement and/or applicable third party procedures.