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Recruitment
of Arab-Americans
Anticipating an increase in Middle Eastern prisoners and witnesses to protect,
the U.S. Marshals Service has launched a recruitment initiative to hire Arab-Americans
and those fluent in Arab languages. Gary Mead, of the Marshals Service, said
the agency's emphasis on the southwest border has not required a large number
of marshals who could speak Arabic or other Middle Eastern languages, so the
agency has never actively sought them out.
"We actively recruit Spanish-speaking individuals to be members," said
Mead, the assistant director for Business Services. "However,
we are now concerned about the need for Middle Eastern speakers...There's
just a whole lot of areas where we need new skills sets."
In addition to witness protection, the agency provides security
service for courts and federal buildings and helps apprehend federal
fugitives.
"If we start receiving a lot of people into our custody who
speak Middle Eastern languages, which we've not had in the past,
we're going to need some means to communicate," Mead told
FEA. "So this would be a new requirement for us."
Due to the agency's limited experience recruiting Arab-Americans
and others of Middle Eastern decent, Mead said the Marshals Service
would use the same techniques used for Hispanics and spanish speakers.
"We'll go the cities that have high concentrations," he
said. "If there are colleges that have high concentrations
[we will go there]. As we go to military bases, we will make it
known that we are looking for people with these language skills.
So until we find that these traditional techniques don't work,
I assume that's what we'll do."
Mead said the agency had not determined how many speakers of Middle
Eastern languages would be needed.
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