![\"Law](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768601052_814_Inside-St.-Petes-Border-Patrol-recruitment-event-Valerie-Smith.jpeg\")
A DHS officer at The Hilton in St. Petersburg, Florida Jan. 13, 2026. Credit: Valerie Smith \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\nA DHS officer at The Hilton in St. Petersburg, Florida Jan. 13, 2026. Credit: Valerie Smith \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n
Dubbed \u201cThe Green Monster\u201d<\/a> by some DHS officials, Border Patrol has a reputation as more aggressive and unpredictable than ICE. Its recruiting experience reflected the militaristic culture of the green-suited agency.<\/p>\n U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) held a two-day recruitment expo this week at the St. Petersburg Carillon Park Hilton hotel<\/a>. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay sent this reporter to the event as a registered attendee to get an inside look at CBP\u2019s recruitment tactics.<\/p>\n DHS\u2019 opaque media strategy, the fact that the event is open to any member of the public who registers, and the importance of bringing DHS\u2019 recruitment tactics to light contributed to this reporter\u2019s decision to register and attend without openly advertising press status. At no point during registration or attendance was I asked if I was press, though I would have answered truthfully if asked. I did not provide any false information at any point.<\/p>\n The event page advertised a $60,000 recruitment bonus \u201cfor select Border Patrol and CBP positions,\u201d which flyers at the event clarified were for \u201cmost difficult-to-fill locations\u201d and are only paid out after several years on the job.<\/p>\n There were five tables inside the room where the event was held. The first, near the entrance, was for Border Patrol. There were also tables for boat and plane interceptors, customs officers who work at ports of entry, internal investigators, and general information. No U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruiters were present.<\/p>\n The event was widely circulated among left-leaning social media circles as an ICE recruitment, despite ICE\u2019s lack of attendance. Many recent newsworthy incidents attributed to ICE are often actually done by Border Patrol: Greg Bovino\u2019s sweeps of New Orleans and Chicago, agents rappelling down from helicopters into residential apartment complexes, and agents jumping out of the back of a U-Haul truck to detain suspects at a Home Depot.<\/p>\n Border Patrol is often tasked with suppressing resistance to ICE, including the recent deployment of 800 agents<\/a> to Minneapolis to quell protests over the killing of Rene\u00e9 Good by an ICE agent. ICE\u2019s recent hiring surge and a recent reorganization<\/a> that placed Border Patrol personnel at top ICE positions may affect the organization\u2019s culture and bring it closer to Border Patrol in both tactics and function.<\/p>\n Border Patrol<\/p>\n My experience with Border Patrol felt like a military recruitment: it was an organized, systematic routine that took people in to process them and move on. By never saying \u201cno,\u201d I was corralled from standing near the recruitment table to having a completed application submitted on my behalf, and I was told to expect a tentative job offer within weeks.<\/p>\n I spoke with a man who identified himself as a full-time recruiter from Border Patrol. When asked if a prospective employee would be able to work in the Tampa Bay area, he said that Border Patrol tends to work \u201cwhere people try to sneak in,\u201d so they\u2019re mostly at land borders. He did not mention the recent deployment of Border Patrol agents to Minneapolis or the sweeps of New Orleans and Chicago.<\/p>\n The Border Patrol recruiter began to recommend ICE as a career path for those interested in staying local, but he stopped himself. \u201cICE isn\u2019t really here because they don\u2019t need to be here,\u201d he said. He did not expand on this statement, but Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has previously said<\/a> that he believes local law enforcement\u2019s participation in 287(g) agreements with ICE have kept the agency from targeting Florida cities.<\/p>\n \u201cHow old are you?\u201d the recruiter asked. When I responded, he said, \u201cYou\u2019re going to retire at 49.\u201d He told me I would be able to start at a higher pay grade because I had three years of full-time employment. I told him I had no law enforcement experience, and he said it didn\u2019t matter. \u201cWalmart, Walgreens,\u201d the recruiter said. Anywhere that I had full-time employment meant I was qualified. He advertised a training period of \u201cjust 115 days\u201d for Border Patrol agents.<\/p>\n Qualified immunity: \u201cYou\u2019ve got the entire federal government behind you\u201d<\/p>\n When asked about personal liability insurance, the Border Patrol recruiter immediately explained that I likely wouldn\u2019t need it as I would have \u201cqualified immunity.\u201d He told me that as long as I act in pursuit of doing my job, I would not be held liable for any consequences of my actions. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the entire federal government behind you\u2014not in front of you,\u201d the recruiter said.<\/p>\n Qualified immunity\u2014so-called because it is immunity with a few limitations, or \u201cqualifiers\u201d\u2014is a legal principle that allows law enforcement to act without full understanding of, or compliance with, the law. If an agent mistakenly violates someone\u2019s statutory or constitutional rights while on-duty, they are immune from prosecution and damages unless it can be proven that a \u201creasonable person\u201d would have known better.<\/p>\n In theory, qualified immunity allows law enforcement to do their job without having to let criminals go out of fear of personal liability if they make a small procedural error. In practice, the ACLU says<\/a> it often allows police brutality and civil rights violations to go unchecked, as officers know they are not likely to be punished for any violations they commit.<\/p>\n Local law enforcement<\/p>\n When asked how a job with Border Patrol differs from a job with local law enforcement, the recruiter said that if a prospective employee wanted to \u201cjust ride around in Clearwater or whatever,\u201d Border Patrol probably wasn\u2019t for them. He recommended that anyone pursuing law enforcement should pursue a federal job over local for the benefits and status. \u201cIf you want to go big, go federal.\u201d<\/p>\n Corralled into applying<\/p>\n I did not ask to apply for a job. After attempting to get his tablet to work for several minutes, blaming his technical difficulties on another recruiter, the recruiter at the Border Patrol table told me to fill out a short digital form. I asked if I would be required to apply for a job just because I filled out this form, and he said no. \u201cWe\u2019re not the military,\u201d the recruiter joked.<\/p>\n Once this was done, he told me to follow him to another room. \u201cYou\u2019re here to apply for a job, let\u2019s apply for a job, brother,\u201d the recruiter said. I entered a large room that had about 78 workstations, each with a laptop open to an application page. Most seats were filled, and most of the applicants appeared to be either nonwhite Latino or Black men. The Border Patrol recruiter handed me off to a separate recruiter who was helping several people fill out their applications. I was instructed to create an account on usajobs.gov and wait for further assistance.<\/p>\n AI-generated resumes<\/p>\n After creating an account, the recruiter opened up an AI resume-generating website called livecareer.com. The previous applicant\u2019s \u201cwork experience\u201d page was still open; they used AI to generate a description for their nightclub bouncer job. I was directed to erase that and do the same with my own previous experience as a software engineer. \u201cMake it sound as fancy as possible,\u201d the recruiter said.<\/p>\n After entering my former job title, a menu appeared with about 65 suggested job responsibilities, like \u201cMentored junior developers, sharing knowledge and expertise to support their professional growth and development within team.\u201d When I clicked one, a bullet point was added to a \u201cjob description\u201d field containing that text. \u201cClick everything,\u201d the recruiter said.<\/p>\n I read each sentence, confirming that it was an actual part of the job that I completed, then I clicked it to add it to my job description. After I had added about five responsibilities, the recruiter reached over my shoulder to click all of them faster than either of us could read. \u201cAccording to America, as a software engineer, you did all these things,\u201d he told me. \u201cYou\u2019re a rockstar.\u201d<\/p>\n Once he had selected all of the responsibilities, he copied the output and pasted it into the government application website to create a resume. It was over 5,000 characters; too long. He erased a few bullet points from the end and continued, generating a sloppily-formatted resume that was little more than a single lengthy paragraph with a header. The result was so unreadable that I couldn\u2019t imagine a human being would be personally reviewing it.<\/p>\n Hands-free application<\/p>\n Once I began the application, I reached the \u201cmerit hiring questions,\u201d which are optional sub-200-word narrative questions that highlight an applicant\u2019s character. The first question read: \u201cHow has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the Federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic, or personal experience.\u201d<\/p>\n In each response field, the recruiter instructed me to paste the words, \u201cI\u2019d prefer not to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n From this point on, I mostly only touched the computer to type what was dictated to me into text fields. The recruiter, reaching over my shoulder, filled out the application on my behalf, answering some questions faster than I could read them without asking me for input.<\/p>\n I was asked a few questions regarding my past. Was I born in the U.S.? Have I ever had sex in jail? Am I willing to use lethal force? Have I ever smoked weed? \u201cIt\u2019s OK if you have,\u201d the recruiter assured me regarding drug use, \u201cyou just have to let me know.\u201d He did not say whether or not the answers to other questions would disqualify me from getting the job.<\/p>\n Many of the questions were only briefly summarized by the recruiter, and I did not get the chance to read them until I left the event and was able to review (but not edit) my application. One question asked if I was willing to \u201cencounter people experiencing extreme poverty and personal hardships, such as separation from family; witness drownings, vehicle accidents and other tragedies,\u201d alongside a lengthy slew of risks associated with being a Border Patrol agent. The recruiter only asked me: \u201cDo you acknowledge that this is a tough job?\u201d<\/p>\n One question asks if an applicant would like to enter on-duty before their background investigation is completed, using a \u201cprovisional clear\u201d status. The recruiter asked me if I wanted to do so to \u201cget paid sooner.\u201d When I declined, he asked if I was sure before he moved on.<\/p>\n The day after attending this event, reporter Laura Jedeed published an article about her experience being recruited<\/a> for ICE. Her experience mirrors mine with CBP in many ways, except that she was presumably granted this provisional clear status that would have allowed her to work before her background check was approved. ICE also conducted on-site interviews, which did not happen for CBP recruitment.<\/p>\n I did not get a chance to read or answer the final question, which the recruiter answered on my behalf without requesting my input. The question read in-part: \u201cI hereby certify to the best of my knowledge and belief, all of the information provided by me is true, correct, and complete and made in good faith. \u2026 False or fraudulent information provided herein is also criminally punishable pursuant to federal law, including 10 U.S.C.1001<\/a>. By clicking \u2018Yes\u2019 below, I certify that the information I have provided is true to the best of my knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n I did not provide any false information in the recruitment or application process. However, had I been able to read the question, I would not have selected \u201cyes,\u201d and I would have ended my application process immediately.<\/p>\n After completing the application, the recruiter told me that I will either receive a job offer in my email or be told I am ineligible. If ineligible, he told me to fix whatever made me ineligible and reapply during the February recruitment cycle.<\/p>\n A flowchart provided to me showed the next steps: a medical exam, a fitness test, a polygraph test and a final interview. In Jedeen\u2019s experience with ICE, these steps were not required before her \u201center on-duty\u201d date, though it\u2019s unclear if that requirement would be similarly waived for the more militaristic Border Patrol. I left the event less than an hour after I entered with a CBP-branded bag full of flashlight pens, refrigerator magnets and flyers stating all of the benefits to which a CBP agent is entitled.<\/p>\n CBP did not respond to a request for comment on this article.<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Jan. 15 \u2013 21, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t