U.S. Customs and Border Protection could face a staffing shortage in the near future due to the expected retirements of workers who joined the agency just after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
CBP employees are eligible for retirement after 25 years of service, with retirement being mandatory at age 57. This means that workers who signed up for the agency following 9/11 will begin to hit retirement age before President Donald Trump leaves office.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., told the Washington Examiner in a statement that this situation "could cripple our border security mission" due to low staffing.
"Many of the Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers who joined the department in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks are reaching a mandated retirement age," Green said. "This could cripple our border security mission if not addressed swiftly."
Troy Miller, the former acting commissioner of CBP in the Biden administration, told Congress while testifying last year that the agency was working on a plan to compensate for the departures. Miller said the agency should "over hire" in the next two years to avoid a high attrition rate when Trump leaves office.
"We need to focus on hiring," Miller said. "We need to have a plan where we start hiring in advance of 2028."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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