Trump is calling for increasing the number of Border Patrol agents by 5,000. What could possibly go wrong? Could history provide some guidance? John Oliver reminds us that in the aftermath of 9/11 there was a surge in the hiring of Border Patrol agents, doubling the force from 10,000 to 20,000. Might that experience provide some guidance for today? For example, what happens when the demand to boost numbers results in lax screening process? Hmm, might that result in hiring applicants that are unfit and in fact a danger to the force? John, with his engaging and wry delivery, calls up footage from that period as well as post-mortem studies of the events that show “Corruption and excessive force skyrocketed …” , including the case of an agent whose brother was in the Gulf cartel! But John believes we can learn something from this episode in border enforcement and presents his vision of a hiring campaign designed to recruit the right kind of applicant. [NSFW : language (this is cable, John’s language occasionally gets colorful and there’s no bleeping. You can handle it)]   (h/t AGD)

 

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