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Border Patrol may loosen lie-detector hiring requirement

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE--In this June 22, 2016, file photo, a Border Patrol agent walks along a border structure in San Diego, Calif. The U.S. Border Patrol's parent agency may exempt many veterans and law enforcement officers from a requirement that new hires take a lie-detector test. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file) (The Associated Press)

FILE--In this June 22, 2016, file photo, Border Patrol agents ride vehicles along where the border meets the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. The U.S. Border Patrol's parent agency may exempt many veterans and law enforcement officers from a requirement that new hires take a lie-detector test. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file) (The Associated Press)

FILE--In this June 22, 2016, file photo, a Border Patrol agent walks along a border structure in San Diego, Calif. The U.S. Border Patrol's parent agency may exempt many veterans and law enforcement officers from a requirement that new hires take a lie-detector test. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file) (The Associated Press)

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.