It’s Labor Day weekend, and I am at the Uvalde Palomino Fest, the county’s annual fair and rodeo. The dusty fairgrounds are full of young people enjoying fried dough and rickety carnival rides. The rodeo’s cowboy swagger radiates out from the arena into the crowd, where nearly every young man is wearing a light Stetson and a shiny belt buckle.
At the end of a row of vendors—next to a booth selling hats and a knife retailer—sits a now-familiar sight at such events: a US Border Patrol recruiting booth.
For nearly two decades, the government has been hiring workers for border enforcement at rodeos. In 2008, US Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s parent agency, began its sponsorship of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), the largest competitive bull-riding league in the world, which brings sanctioned rodeo competitions to hundreds of cities every year.
The contract for the initial partnership petered out during the Obama years. But during President Donald Trump’s first term, amid a broad push to hire for the Border Patrol, the administration reinstated the association, signing a $1.5 million deal with PBR. In 2019, the government allocated $3 million annually for the next five fiscal years for the PBR sponsorship, for a total of $15 million. At PBR league events, bullfighters are branded with slick jerseys declaring the event “Protected by US Border Patrol.” Pickup men—mounted riders who corral the bull once it’s thrown their rider—sport Border Patrol ads on their shirts and leather chaps. At some events, the Border Patrol makes a dramatic entrance, rappelling from the rafters into the arena as the national anthem plays. Often, a recruiting booth is positioned outside the event, with pencils and drink koozies, ready to “target specific applicants who fit Border Patrol’s applicant profile,” according to a 2024 CBP hiring report.
CBP’s in-person recruitment extends far beyond rodeos. The agency has booths at colleges, job fairs, and other athletic competitions. A 2024 hiring report states that officials choose recruiting locations to target “optimal candidates,” including places with a focus on physical fitness: CrossFit gyms, Spartan Races, and Tough Mudder events. During the latter, Border Patrol logos occasionally appear throughout the obstacle course, and recruiters are ready to make their pitch to interested athletes.
