International Courant
Stray canines dwelling in shelters might be given a shot at a brand new life offering consolation to Customs and Border Safety (CBP) officers below a brand new bipartisan proposal.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, launched a invoice this week to determine a pilot program permitting the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) to undertake the animals from native shelters and practice them to be remedy canines for Border Patrol personnel.
It could construct on the prevailing Canine Assist Program established by CBP early final yr within the face of mounting issues about brokers’ psychological well being as they take care of the continued border disaster.
“These women and men work lengthy hours year-round and face monumental challenges head-on,” Gonzales stated in a press launch. “By bettering entry to canine remedy assist, this laws will give our legislation enforcement another instrument to enhance psychological well being outcomes at CBP.”
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A brand new bipartisan Home invoice would create a program for shelter canines to grow to be remedy animals. (Getty Photographs)
Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., one of many invoice’s authentic co-sponsors, stated the prevailing program “has proven promise to extend workers morale and permit them to higher ship on their promise to maintain our homeland secure.”
“This can be a sturdy step in the correct path – not only for these serving, however the communities they serve, too,” he stated.
Along with aiding border brokers, the proposal might additionally probably have a constructive impact on the nation’s animal shelters, which have struggled with overcrowding within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a rising variety of Individuals battle to make ends meet for themselves, not to mention their pets.
“By facilitating the adoption of remedy canines from native shelters, we’re not solely offering important emotional assist for our CBP workforce but in addition providing a loving residence to shelter canines,” stated Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., one other of the invoice’s co-sponsors.
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A gaggle of over 100 migrants try to enter the U.S. illegally by speeding the border, March 21, 2024. (James Breeden for New York Submit / Mega)
Considerations concerning the psychological well being of Border Patrol officers reached the nationwide stage amid an alarming spike within the variety of suicides the division has seen in recent times.
Home International Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, one other of the invoice’s co-sponsors, spoke with Fox Information Digital concerning the subject throughout a congressional delegation journey to the McAllen, Texas, sector of the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this yr.
“Each time I come down right here, it will get worse; the dearth of detention area, the human tragedy you see right here; what the Border Patrol has to take care of day-after-day, day in and time out, these migrants which might be pouring in; this sense of hopelessness, that it will not cease,” the Texas Republican stated in January.
“Profoundly, I fear concerning the psychological well being of our Border Patrol. The suicide charge goes up. They do not have the correct sources.”
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Home International Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul sounded the alarm on Border Patrol brokers’ psychological well being in a January Fox Information Digital interview.
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Seventeen CBP brokers died by suicide in 2022 alone, Chris Cabrera, vice chairman of the Nationwide Border Patrol Council, advised Congress in March 2023. That’s the very best quantity since CBP started monitoring it in 2007. There have been 19,357 CPB brokers on the job in 2022.
Since then, the variety of unlawful border crossings has continued to climb to new highs, whereas CBP brokers are combating replenishing a dwindling workforce.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox Information Digital main protection of the Home of Representatives. Earlier digital bylines seen at Each day Mail and CBS Information.
Comply with on Twitter at @liz_elkind and ship tricks to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
Shelter canines would offer remedy for distressed border brokers below new bipartisan push
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