GAO Scoffs at Customs and Border Patrol Demands for Increased Staffing

You got those numbers from where?

The federal agency that oversees border checkpoints says it will need more than 3,800 new officers to fix delays that waste millions of dollars every year while cargo trucks sit in long lines to cross the U.S.-Mexican border.

But the Government Accountability Office, in a report Wednesday, questioned the need for so many new workers in addition to the nearly 22,000 current customs officers. The congressional auditors noted that three of the six major border crossings they visited were fully staffed. They also said the federal border agency never fully explained how it determined the number of agents needed at each crossing.

The staffing dispute was just a part of a GAO look at how to measure and reduce wait times along the southern border. The agency it was looking at, Customs and Border Patrol, has also said it needs new ports of entry and improvements to existing border stations to speed crossings.