U.S. sweetens deal to make jobs borderline enticing

NORTON, Vt. — It can be slow at the U.s.-canadian border crossing between Norton, Vermont, and Stanhope, Quebec, where agents have watched moose amble through while waiting for people and cargo.

But the port is still open 24/7 and needs to be staffed around the clock. However, the U.S. government is having a hard time finding employees.

As part of a nationwide effort to increase staff at some of its most remote border crossings, Customs and Border Protection is now offering hiring bonuses and job security for people willing to make the move to remote spots in Vermont, Maine, North Dakota, Texas and other locations on both the northern and southern borders.

While the hours of operation of some remote crossings are being reduced, in the post-9/11 era, security procedures require that crossings be staffed by at least two officers at all times.

There are 328 ports of entry to the United States across the country, including land, sea and airports. Customs and Border Protection is working to hire 1,300 officers nationwide, 1,150 at about 30 officially recognized hard-to-fill locations. Of those, new hires at 21 locations, including Norton, are eligible for a three-year 25 percent bonus on top of a base pay of about $32,000.

The hiring effort, which began in spring 2015, is separate from President Donald Trump’s executive order issued shortly after he took office to hire 5,000 new border patrol agents and other security personnel.

Even though the officers might appear to be working in areas where there is little to do, they have to be as ready to detect threats as officers working at larger, busier points of entry.