Morale among U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents has skyrocketed following Donald Trump’s landslide election victory last week, according to National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez.
Trump made illegal immigration and border security central parts of his 2024 platform, promising to finish his southern border wall and conduct the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Perez told Fox News in an interview on Monday that “morale is through the roof” among Border Patrol agents, adding, “We’ve received hundreds of calls, texts, emails, just saying how happy the agents are.”
“There are a lot of agents that had originally said that they would retire if President Trump did not win. And now those same agents are saying they’re going to hold back on their retirement because they want to serve under this administration again, because they know exactly how it was during this first administration, and they know this one’s going to be even better,” he continued.
The National Border Patrol Council, which represents around 16,000 members, endorsed Trump’s White House bid in October, with Perez warning, “If we allow Border Czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country, is going to go to hell. The untold millions of people, unvetted, who she has allowed into this country that are committing murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries, and every other crime will continue to put our country in peril.”
The Biden administration’s border policies led to around 10 million encounters along the southern border in less than four years. Numerous agents said they would resign if Vice President Kamala Harris won the election, with some describing working under the Biden-Harris administration as “four years in hell.”
Perez added that with another Trump presidency, CBP will likely have a larger pool of “recruits to choose from.”
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“We’ve always had a recruiting problem. And so right now, with President Trump coming into office, a lot of people are going to want to do this job,” he said. “A lot of people have shown interest previously, but they were hesitant to apply and work for the previous administration. So under Trump, we’re going to have a good amount of recruits to choose from.”
Trump has already taken action on preparing to carry out his immigration agenda, tapping Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to serve as the new “border czar.” Homan has promised to carry out Trump’s large-scale deportation operation.
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump wrote. “Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”
