Updated

The U.S. Border Patrol's parent agency could exempt many veterans and law enforcement officers from a requirement that new hires take a lie-detector test.

The idea is part of a proposal to meet President Donald Trump's order to add 5,000 agents. It was mentioned in a memo from the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and released by the agents' union.

The memo lays out a plan to build a force of 26,370 agents in five years.

Kevin Aleenan is the acting commissioner. He calls the polygraph a deterrent to hiring and a recruiting disadvantage.

The Associated Press reported in January that about two-thirds of job applicants fail the polygraph. That's more than double the average rate of law enforcement agencies that provided data under open-records requests.