Border Patrol may get bigger personnel boost.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SECURITY BEAT: HOMELAND DEFENSE BRIEFS

* One of the Department of Homeland Security's goals is to double the size of the Border Patrol during the remainder of the Bush presidency.

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said the agency is on track to meet that objective by the end of this year and bring its numbers Lip to 18,000.

But that may not be enough, he said. The administration requested funding in the 2009 budget to hire, train and equip an additional 2,200 agents.

"That will be more than twice the number that were present on duty when the president took office in 2001," he said.

The Border Patrol under the proposal will receive an additional $500 million, giving the agency a $3.5 billion budget. The boost in officers is having an effect, he said, and one indication is the increase in crimes perpetrated against agents.

Violence against the Border Patrol increased 31 percent, and in some sectors almost 700 percent in 2007, Chertoff said.

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