A Customs and Border Protection employee in 2018.
The U.S. government is trying to privatize several security positions usually conducted by federal Customs and Border Protection agents for a program it wants to roll out along the southwest border.
Customs and Border Protection is looking for ways to use private security companies to replace agents and officers assigned to guard and transportation roles.
The agency said in papers filed recently that it wants to minimize the use of frontline agents for those duties.
Private security guards would replace CBP officers and Border Patrol agents guarding people in custody at hospitals and courtrooms and act as guards in transportation assignments.
Parts of the government’s request, emblazoned in bright red as "Market Research" and not as a concrete plan, include the expectation that private guards could respond to emergency situations like evacuations and national emergencies.
Contractors would also be expected to know the government’s standards for use of force by CBP as well as transport and escort procedures.
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