Latinos now make up 52% of Border Patrol Agents

The San Francisco Chronicle is not making it up, since the Bush administration mandated hiring 6,000 agents to boost the force to 18,000 by the end of this year, the ranks of Latino agents have mushroomed. The roughly 6,400 Latino agents on duty in 2006 increased 45 percent to about 9,300 last month.

Because Southwest border communities are largely Latino, recruits there have an advantage in the required Spanish fluency as well as familiarity with the job. Applicants who can pass a Spanish test can skip 40 days of required language instruction at the academy.

Though the Border Patrol force has become more ethnically diverse, it's still about 95 percent male. However, the recruiting drive boosted the number of female agents to nearly 1,000.