How to Become a DEA Agent in El Paso, Texas by Meeting Requirements

The Texas town of El Paso is one of the busiest border crossings in the entire country, and is therefore also one of the most trafficked drug smuggling corridors in the United States. One of the reasons why El Paso has a drug smuggling and trafficking problem is because the city is located across the border from Ciudad Juarez, which is at the epicenter of the drug wars going on in Mexico between rival drug cartels in that country. Because of the increased violence on the Mexican side of the border, it has drawn the attention of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on the United States side of the border- especially when the violence has started to work its way over onto the U.S. side, rather than just being contained on the Mexican side of the border.

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The El Paso, Texas division office is responsible for supervising DEA operations not only in El Paso, but also in the Texas cities of Midland and Alpine, as well as Las Cruces and Albuquerque in the state of New Mexico.

The DEA Making Major Busts in El Paso

DEA agents operating out of the El Paso division are responsible for deterring drug smuggling and trafficking across the border and through the designated areas in Texas and New Mexico, as well as busting up drug rings that are already in existence. The most common drugs in the area are marijuana (both domestically grown in the area and from Mexico,) methamphetamine (also manufactured in the U.S. and smuggled from Mexico,) Cocaine (typically via Mexican drug cartels getting its supply from South America) and prescription drugs.

The following is a list of some of the major drug busts, investigations and operations that have been carried out by DEA agents working at the El Paso, Texas division office:

  • More than six tons of marijuana was seized when DEA agents followed a truck from Texas into Southern New Mexico, which is under the jurisdiction of the El Paso DEA office. The fact that a convoy of five vehicles were traveling together along an isolated stretch of NM County Road 1 in Hidalgo County tipped off the agents who found it suspicious and worth looking into. Two of the suspects were from Mexico and are believed to have ties to a drug cartel operating out of that country. In total, the marijuana had an estimated street value of more than $10.9 million.
  • Nine people were arrested after a year-long investigation of a drug ring in Ciudad Jaurez. The ring was also operating in El Paso and was responsible for smuggling hundreds of pounds of cocaine and thousands of pounds of marijuana from Mexico.

El Paso DEA Hiring Process

When considering how to become a DEA agent in El Paso, there are a series of requirements and training that an applicant/ recruit must complete before getting jobs and beginning careers with the administration.

Along with the basic requirements, applicants must possess at least one of the following forms of experience:

  • Have a bachelor’s degree with at least a 2.95 GPA, or a LL. B or J.D. Degree
  • Have specialized experience with narcotics and drug-related arrests and investigations

In addition to a bachelor’s degree, have at least three years experience in maritime/ pilot operations, military leadership, accounting/ auditing practices, technical/ mechanical skills or fluency in a foreign language in demand at the administration (Spanish, Mandarin, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, etc.)

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