By Aaron Kesel

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents. CBP, in turn, awarded a $297 million contract to a private contracting company to help recruit and hire new agents, RT reported.

The contract is with a division of Accenture, an international contractor with $35 billion in revenues in 2017, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The arrangement requires Accenture to manage “the full cycle of the hiring process” and a “hard-hitting, targeted recruitment campaign consisting of promoting the CBP law enforcement careers and opportunities.” The company will also launch a public education campaign about CBP and employment with Border Patrol.

This comes as the agency is struggling to fill positions after failing to bring on more border agents than it loses in a given year, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS announced a 14 percent increase over the number of people it brought on the previous year. Most of those hires were for CBP officer positions, which saw a 21 percent spike in recruiting efforts.

However, the position Trump is looking to fill are Border Patrol agents, which only saw just a 4 percent increase in new employees.

The Border Patrol apprehended 311,000 individuals in fiscal 2017 and CBP officers rejected 216,000 inadmissible cases, totaling nearly a 24 percent decline from the previous year.

Still, the CBP’s acting deputy commissioner, Ronald Vitiello, remains optimistic about meeting Trump’s goal of increasing border control authorities.

“We have more people in the pipeline and they are doing better in getting through the hiring process,” Vitiello said.

In September, the House approved a fiscal 2018 spending measure that would provide $100 million for the Border Patrol to hire 500 new agents and $186.5 million for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase its ranks by 1,000 agents next year. The House also backed the 2017 Border Security for America Act (H.R. 3548), which would authorize CBP to hire 5,000 new Border Patrol agents and an additional 5,000 customs agents.

Despite the decrease in its workforce, the agency also announced that Border Patrol agents apprehended 303,916 border crossers this year, down to the lowest numbers since 1971, USA Today reported.

“We have seen historic low numbers this year, an almost 30 percent decline in apprehensions in (fiscal year 2017),” CBP Acting Commissioner Ron Vitiello said in a statement. “But we are very concerned about the later month increases of unaccompanied minors and minors with a family member.”

However, another report by the Washington Times released today contradicts this claim by stating that the decrease in border crossings has surged back to Obama-era levels.

Nearly 40,000 illegal immigrants were nabbed attempting to jump the border in November, which was up about 12 percent compared to October, and more than twice the monthly numbers from March and April…

While border crossings were lower due to the “Trump effect” for several months after being elected, the domestic arrests of illegal immigrants surged 40% compared with the same period the year before, according to ICE.

CE Deputy Director Thomas Homan said the numbers reflected the Trump administration’s empowerment of federal agents to enforce the nation’s laws.

“We need to confront and address misguided policies and loopholes that only serve as a pull factor for illegal immigration,” he said. “Finally, we need to find a solution to the dangerous sanctuary city policies and the politicians who needlessly risk innocent lives to protect criminals who are illegally present in the United States.”

Trump’s January executive order widened immigration enforcement and included plans to hire 5,000 Border Patrol agents, 2,000 customs officers, and 500 agents for the Office of Air and Marine Operations over the next four years.

Trump vowed to throw “the savages of MS-13” the “hell out of the country” in a speech at the FBI Academy on Friday afternoon. That operation is known as Operation Raging Bull.

“To any member of MS-13 listening,” Trump said, “I have a message for you: We will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you, we will throw you the hell out of the country.”

“And somehow I like it better than jail,” he added “Jail we have to take care of them. Who the hell wants to take care of them?”

In the same address, Trump said he would continue efforts at cracking down on sanctuary cities.

“These are people that are sadists in many cases,” he said. “We don’t want them. We don’t want them. They are getting out of here. Our cities should not be sanctuaries for criminals. They should be sanctuaries for Americans. It is our duty to serve the hardworking citizens of our country who raise our families, cherish our values, salute our flag, and make this land our home.”

So it appears the Trump administration will continue to use violence to coerce the removal of illegal undocumented citizens from America. Moreover, as Activist Post has previously reported, it is implementing a biometric surveillance state at the borders and airports that makes George Orwell’s 1984 look like nothing in comparison … all with the goal to “Make America Great Again.”

Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post. Support us at Patreon. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Steemit, and BitChute. Ready for solutions? Subscribe to our premium newsletter Counter Markets.

Hat Tip: MassPrivateI

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