For more info, see “Armed agent demands to know how we got in room with open doors and other tales of the Border Patrol job fair.”
Richard Camacho, a Puerto Rican 29-year-old father of two with a background in armed security, attended the Border Patrol job fair at the Colorado Springs Double Tree hotel on July 7 as an applicant, inspired in part by his family’s history of working within the agency.
As a child living in Arizona, Camacho said, he and his friends dreamed of joining the Border Patrol – but those friends were deported in the massive deportation sweep of President Donald Trump’s second term.
“We all wanted to apply for Border Patrol,” Camacho said. “It was one of our dreams growing up because we did grow up around, you know, military, law enforcement, etc. So we always had that vision.”
“[My friends] loved helping people and the best way they saw that was going into law enforcement,” he said. “They wanted to do Border Patrol specifically because they said that they can help other people like them, you know, like Mexican citizens … we can help them as much as we can.”
“[Their deportation] was a complete shock,” Camacho said. “They applied to become legal citizens … they applied a very long time ago. They’re the same age as me, 28-29 … it was a complete shock. They were going through the process.”
He continued, “They did everything like they were supposed to. They went through the process, they were contributing, and then they still got deported. That’s not something I agree with.”
But, I noted, if he applied with Border Patrol and got the job, he would have to enforce policies that he did not set and may not agree with.
Camacho said he did not want to be part of enforcement, but to serve as a translator or case manager helping people who are in the system – and by doing so, help make that system work better from within.
“[My friends] love this country, and they … were done wrong, I believe,” he said. “And that’s why I’m here. I believe I can make a change.”
