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Congress has approved millions of dollars in additional funding to beef up staff at the country’s borders. Now border agencies are scrabbling to fill the new positions and train new inspectors.

“Since September 11 we have maintained an alert level which calls for sustained enhanced security at all our borders,” said Thomas Hardy, U.S. Customs director of field operations in the northwest. “In order to maintain this level of scrutiny, additional personnel and resources are needed as soon as possible.”

U.S. Customs will hold an open house in Blaine on January 31 to recruit applicants for positions as customs inspectors at Washington ports of entry. Customs inspectors check people, vehicles, aircraft, baggage, cargo and vessels to make sure drugs, weapons or other contraband doesn’t make it into the country. Keeping the tools of terrorism out has now become the agency’s highest priority, Hardy said. Customs inspectors start at a salary of $23,600 to $29,200 after their 11 weeks of training, but can also earn up to $30,000 in additional overtime annually. Requirements for the job include qualifying to carry a firearm, wearing a uniform, random drug testing, overtime and shift work, in all kinds of weather.

The January 31 open house, which runs from noon to 8 p.m. on the third floor of the Pacific Highway border station, is a warmup for a nationwide vacancy announcement due to hit the internet February 4. The agency will accept the first 7,000 applications, which are available at www.customs.gov. for the nationwide positions. Customs will not release the number of positions to be created as a matter of national security.

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