Border Patrol Wants More Women To Join Its Ranks
PHOENIX - A new job posting to fill U.S. Border Patrol agent positions along the Southwest border is exclusively open to female applicants.
“Customs and Border Protection has a critical need for female Border Patrol Agents for the screening of female detainees who enter the United States,” reads the job post. "Male applicants will not be considered."
Spokeswoman Agent Shevannah Wray said one factor driving female recruitment is the growing number of female migrants crossing the Southwest border.
She said apprehensions of women have jumped 173 percent since 2011 and female agents are needed to search these female migrants when they are arrested.
Plus, Wray said the number of women in the Border Patrol lags behind other federal law enforcement agencies.
When Wray joined the agency four years ago, she was one of just two women in her class of 50.
“We have the same requirements as the men have and we have to pass the same benchmarks that the men have to pass,” Wray said. “So we are the same and we can all do the same position.”
Wray said the agency is looking for candidates who are physically fit, demonstrate integrity and critical thinking and enjoy the outdoors.
She said the agency expects to hire 1,600 agents of both genders over the course of this fiscal year.
