U.S. agent accused of aiding illegals By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 10, 2005
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents all 11,000 nonsupervisory Border Patrol agents, called the arrest "embarrassing," but described Mr. Ortiz and the unidentified second agent as "rogue agents." "The overwhelming majority of the agents are out there risking their lives, enforcing immigration laws, doing a daunting and largely thankless task," said Mr. Bonner, a 28-year veteran of the agency. Mr. Bonner said the FBI used to conduct background investigations on all Border Patrol applicants, but the job has since been turned over to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Currently, he said, some background checks are not being completed until the agents have been in the field for months. "It's a two-minute phone call to verify whether the number (on the birth certificate) matches the name," Mr. Bonner said. "Any rookie who is trained in immigration law could have figured that out." OPM officials in Washington referred inquiries on the background checks to a voice mailbox that was full. A second call was referred to an OPM office in Pennsylvania, where a spokeswoman directed further inquiries to the same voice mailbox.