Border Patrol recruits Oklahomans

By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

The U.S. Border Patrol is recruiting in Oklahoma City.

Officials are advertisings jobs around the metro in one of their first efforts to recruit new hires from the Sooner state.

"The United States Border Patrol for many years was the smallest federal law enforcement agency," Agent Robert Green said. "We were actually smaller than many large city police departments."

Jared Gilreath is in the Army National Guard and recently returned home from Iraq. He said his military experience may give him an advantage over other border patrol applicants. 

The recruiting process took Gilreath about an hour and a half to complete.

The first step is going through a Q-and-A session, then the actual application process. The last step is taking a practice exam.

Gilreath's wife, Telia, has already passed the exam.

"Within a month or two I should know when I start and before I start I have to get training," she said.

Telia Gilreath said she knows she'll have to leave her home in Stillwater, but said she and her husband are doing it to heed the government's calling and protect their future together.

"We really can't determine who's good from bad right now, until we stop and ask - only way to do that is to stop them at the border," she said.

Applicants also have to pass a polygraph, a background check and must learn to speak Spanish.