The new collective bargaining agreement, which took effect Nov. 1, requires the government to finance the equivalent of 74 full-time union positions, more than comparable Department of Homeland Security unions and about three times the working hours that the National Border Patrol Council has used in recent years, even though the number of agents has declined.
The move pulls additional Border Patrol agents from their jobs to focus on labor relations matters at a time the administration considers the situation at the U.S. southern border to be a national security crisis. It also expands the number of border agents whose roles as union officers allow them to engage in partisan political activity, a potential benefit to the president’s 2020 campaign.