Border Patrol Jobs in Marathon, Florida

The border patrol stations in Florida have always played a key role in protecting the national security of the United States of America. For decades now, Florida has been an attractive area for illegal immigration via Cuba and the Caribbean Islands, and has also been a hot spot for drug smuggling and trafficking (especially cocaine, marijuana and heroine from Mexico and South America primarily.) The Florida Keys are very difficult to monitor because of the geography of the area and the many small inlets and waterways that go through the islands.

Main Duties at the Marathon Station

Marine Interdiction Agent: These border patrol agents are responsible for monitoring the water territory via small boats and large boats- depending on the needs at the time. Marine interdiction agents look for suspicious activity and boats that seem like they are not licensed or are foreign to the area. The agents have been specially trained to recognize common drug trafficking vehicles and are also responsible for searching the boats for illegal cargo. This is the main border patrol job in Marathon, Florida. These highly skilled agents meet strict training requirements before being considered for these specialized jobs.

Checkpoint Agents: These agents work at checkpoints along major traffic corridors and are trained to identify suspicious activity through interview techniques and the review of paperwork like passports and drivers licenses.

The History of the Marathon Border Crossing Station

The Marathon station is one of six border patrol stations located in the Miami sector of the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency. The station opened up a permanent location in 2003, but has existed in the area as a sub station prior to the building of the new border patrol facility. The Marathon border crossing station is responsible for monitoring nearly 1,000 miles of territory in the United States.

The city of Marathon is located in Monroe County, which is the southernmost county in the state of Florida and includes all 800 of the islands known as the Florida Keys. Only 40 of the islands are inhabited. The Florida Keys islands span more than 220 miles of territory and therefore are quite difficult to monitor on a regular basis. Drug smuggling is still a huge problem in the area, although it is not as big of a problem as it was in the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and ‘90’s. The bulk of border patrol jobs at the Marathon border crossing station are centered on monitoring the waterways and the Florida Keys.