El Paso Border Patrol seeks to fill 165 processing coordinator jobs

EL PASO, Texas — A new position created by the U.S. Border Patrol after the 2019 surge of migrants to El Paso is looking to ease the workload on agents securing the border, and the agency is looking for new applicants. 

The surge of migrants in 2019 diverted many agents away from the border to processing families doing administrative work. Valeria Morales, the special operations supervisor for Border Patrol, said this diversion left gaps on the border wall that transnational criminal organizations took advantage of. 

“We didn’t have the facilities like the centralized processing center. Our Border Patrol facilities were overwhelmed,” Morales explained. 

Border Patrol started the processing coordinator position to do this administrative work during surges to make sure agents are not taken away from securing the border. 

The agency is looking to fill 165 processing coordinator spots. The first class graduated in April this year, and three others have followed since.

Melanie Garcia was part of that first class. 

“I want to be a part of the community, to be able to help out the community, and keep the community safe,” Garcia said, as she explained why she joined Border Patrol. 

The training program is seven weeks long and teaches applicants how to perform their daily tasks. That includes intake, property check, and starting the paperwork on the immigration process. 

Since the start of the program, Morales says the moral of border agents has gone back up when processing coordinators took the reins on administrative work. 

“With having them here allows us to have more agents in the field,” Morales said. 

Border Patrol is still looking to fill spots in the program. If you are interested in applying you can do so by clicking here. 

The deadline to apply is Oct. 1.