WHAT OTHER SORT OF PERSON WOULD TAKE SUCH A JOB?:

[H]iring such a large number of agents in a short period of time would be nearly impossible, according to John F. Kelly, the former general whom Mr. Trump chose to be the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

"I don't believe we're going to get 10,000 and 5,000 on board within the next couple of years," Mr. Kelly told lawmakers on Capitol Hill this month, explaining that stringent hiring standards and training regimens slow down the process.

"I'd rather have fewer and make sure that they're high-quality people that are already serving in those organizations, already well trained, but I will not skimp on the training and the standards," Mr. Kelly said.

One of the problems that Mr. Kelly faces is a polygraph test that prospective agents, including those seeking to work for the Border Patrol, must take. According to a former senior homeland security official, nearly 60 percent of applicants fail it.

The test was first put in place after another surge in hiring during the George W. Bush administration. Thousands of people were hired without being properly vetted, which resulted in dozens of corruption cases involving Border Patrol and other agents, who were accused of taking bribes and providing information to Mexican drug cartels.

The former senior homeland security official, James Tomsheck, who was the assistant commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, office of internal affairs, said in several cases many of the new hires were members of the cartels.

"The corruption and excessive use of force that plague the agency is a direct result of a hiring mandate to hire too many people too rapidly without the proper vetting," said Mr. Tomsheck, who was removed from his position after, he said, he was accused of being too aggressive in pursuing excessive use-of-force cases.

It is unclear how Mr. Trump and Mr. Kelly plan to solve the manpower problem. [..]

More recently, in July 2014, Rick Perry, then the governor of Texas, ordered 1,000 National Guard troops to its border with Mexico in an effort to bolster his border-security credentials as he prepared to start his presidential campaign.

The deployment has been costly, controversial and continues to this day. The troops live in hotels along the border during their deployments, and the estimate of the costs in 2014 were $12 million a month.

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