(Similar news this morning on Good Morning America)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...401525_pf.html

SAN DIEGO -- Federal law enforcement officials are investigating a series of bribery and smuggling cases in what they fear is a sign of increased corruption among officers who patrol the Mexican border.

Two brothers who worked for the U.S. Border Patrol disappeared in June while under investigation for smuggling drugs and immigrants, and are believed to have fled to Mexico. In the past month, two agents from Customs and Border Protection, which guards border checkpoints, were indicted for taking bribes to allow illegal immigrants to enter the United States. And earlier this month, two Border Patrol supervisory agents pleaded guilty to accepting nearly $200,000 in payoffs to release smugglers and illegal immigrants who had been detained.

Wonder when bribery will infect some of their bretheren at airport checkpoints?

I'd be surprised if it wasn't already happening.

It happens. Whether it's a Border Patrol officer or CBP officer, land, airport or sea.

In the 17 Sep 2009 edition of the LA Times, there was an article regarding an ICE attache in Mexico who had just been arrested for investing in a cocaine smuggling scheme. He's also been charged with selling government files to traffickers, identifying undercover officers to the cartel and being involved with money laundering.

For the record, there are no "Border Guards". Even in the article, they make up designations for people. The only "agents" that work for Customs and Border Protection are Border Patrol Agents. Those that generally work at fixed-post points of entry are Customs and Border Protection Officers. I know the media has a hard time dealing with "facts" and not just conjecture, but it really is relevant to the story.

Stories such as these are more common than anyone in DHS would like to admit. With the accelerated hiring CBP has done over the past few years, there is a general thought that a lot of bad apples may have slipped through the cracks. CBP, however, is pretty open about exposing corruption and even posts convictions on it's internal website as a reminder. CBP is an attractive employer for people who are from the regions with the highest concentrations of positions. Face it, who wants to move to Del Rio, TX if they have no connections there? The problem with this is some employees have "people" on both sides of the border. While they may not start off corrupt, the potential for influence is there. Remember, we're talking about a generally dirt-poor Third World country with a virtually non-existent middle class. There is a ton of money to be made in alien/drug smuggling with an endless supply. Rest assured, I've spoken to many veteran officers/agents and they are very concerned about rooting out corruption amongst the ranks.

For the average traveler, I haven't read too many articles that had a direct effect. This is the only one I can recall in recent memory. But then again, I'm getting old. Customs and Border Protection Officer Sentenced for Computer Theft (PDF Warning)

To me this story is OT, but I have to say with the BILLIONS involved in transporting and selling drugs (even legal ones), bribes are an everpresent hazard. I doubt our government pays anything like a bribeproof salary to the people who have to enforce these laws. Cops by the hundreds have destroyed their careers by things like selling evidence they confiscate. Many more never get caught and have accounts somewhere with funds never paid them by the taxpayers.

If Americans don't think this is usual in the War on Drugs, then they are as clueless about that as about the War on Terror. Remember that the world's foremost terrorists are also the biggest drug producers. They own the heroin trade. War on Drugs and War on Terror are two subdivisions of the same multinational industry.

To be fair, Mexico actually does have a sizeable and growing middle class. On the other hand, if you were referring to the post–housing bubble USA....

There is a middle class, but it is unattainable by a vast majority. Hence our 20 million "visitors".

Fortunately, stealing from a passenger's checked or carry-on luggage is far too easy and too lucrative to allow bribery to compete among screeners' desire for extra cash. Wealth and property gained through theft at an airport presently outweighs the amount of money to be made from bribes. As soon as the bribers can make accepting bribes more profitable and less risky than baggage theft, we'll see acts of bribery escalate.

Who has collected statistics and converted it into a dollar equivalent?

I invite you to read official reports of the major espionage cases of the last 25-30 years or so (I have, BTW). There are certain types of people who have certain lifestyle characteristics making them vulnerable to bribes and other sorts of greed-based manipulation. Also, you will find that virtually all of the famous spies received relatively paltry sums of money -- even Aldridge Ames. So, dollar amounts are irrelevant.

Theft from baggage is relatively hard to do. You have to develop a technique for quickly removing something of value and quickly hiding it -- pickpocketing skills. Then, you have to carry the stuff for the remainder of your shift, or at least to a break, and then successfully get your booty out of the airport. Then, unless you plan to keep the stuff yourself, you have to have a secondary marketplace set up -- fencing, Craigslist, etc.

Bribery is simple. All it involves, in the context of an airport, is exchange of money (which doesn't even need to be done at the airport) for the screener's willingness to "overlook" something when required. It's also very easy to become addicted to it. The individuals seeking a screener's cooperation will start with something small, move on to larger things, and will gradually hook the person.

Ummm...what's a bribe-proof salary? Whatever the government pays these people, a bribe is always icing on the cake. We can never pay people enough to eliminate all corruption, because some people are fundamentally corrupt to begin with. Money won't make them not corrupt.

Bruce

Do you trust Hispanic CBP employees? It seems to me you are identifying them as a problem.

Race really isn't an issue. You live in a community long enough and you'll establish roots and have a social network there. Getting someone on the hook by their taking bribes for small stuff, pretty much guarantees cooperation with the big stuff. It might take years to work up to the big stuff, but it will come.

Means, motive and opportunity are universal necessities for a crime to be committed. Whether you're on the border or in a Wall Street boardroom, it's the same. Generally, the largest barrier to overcome in influencing officials is gaining a significant familiarity with them. Companies with significant interests in legislation hire lobbyists for this very reason.

To answer your question directly, a person's family origin has no bearing on their trustworthiness. It's simply a function of numbers, the more you have of a particular group, the higher the odds of having bad apples from that group.