U.S. Customs and Border Protection — the county’s largest law enforcement agency — doesn’t have enough internal affairs investigators to properly police itself, according to a highly regarded panel of law enforcement experts.

While about 66,000 people work for the federal law enforcement agency, the workforce includes just 218 internal affairs investigators, according to the eight-member Customs and Border Protection Integrity Advisory Panel, which prepared a 40-page report dated June 29.

“As part of its international role, CBP is in the awkward position of teaching professionalism and integrity to foreign Customs and border agencies around the world, including the need for a robust internal affairs capability, and yet CBP itself does not have an adequately staffed internal affairs and has not had one since the creation of CBP in March 2003,” according to the report. “This needs to be rectified as expeditiously as possible.”

Customs and Border Protection employs about 44,000 armed law enforcement officers, including about 21,000 who work for the U.S. Border Patrol.

“This recommendation is something that should have happened a long time ago,” said John-Michael Torres, a spokesman for La Unión Del Pueblo Entero. “As this agency increases in size, they need to increase in their internal mechanisms for accountability and their accountability towards the public.”

Advocates for immigrants also have criticized Customs and Border Protection for a lack of transparency and slow-moving internal investigations.

The report warns about the constant threat of corruption at the agency. Drug traffickers routinely ply Mexican law enforcement officials with money or threaten them with violence.

"Could that happen over here in the U.S.? Absolutely,” said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, adding that Customs and Border Protection should continually screen employees to weed out bad apples.

The agency currently employs about 218 internal affairs investigators, according to the report, which recommends roughly doubling that number to 550.

Simply hiring more internal affairs investigators isn’t enough, said Chris Cabrera, vice president of National Border Patrol Council Local 3307, the union that represents local agents.

"We've had OIG, we've had internal affairs — they've all had integrity issues. Some of them have ended up in jail. So when these guys come out and say, ‘Well, we need more investigators, we need to police these agents,’ I think ‘Maybe you need to police yourself first,’" Cabrera said.

Just like Border Patrol agents, internal affairs investigators should be properly screened and trained, Cabrera said.

Along with concerns about corruption, the report recommends re-evaluating Customs and Border Protection policies on the use of deadly force, which have been widely criticized.

The eight-member advisory panel included Karen P. Tandy, who led the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from 2003 to 2007, and Bill Bratton, who heads the New York Police Department.

Customs and Border Protection issues a statement on the report:

“I would like to thank the Integrity Advisory Panel – co-chaired by Karen Tandy and Bill Bratton – for their hard work and commitment to helping make a more transparent and accountable CBP.  With the full support of Secretary Johnson, we formed this panel last year as part of the Homeland Security Advisory Council with the intention of having these respected leaders in the law enforcement community provide guidance and best practices based on their experiences leading the most prominent law enforcement agencies in the world.  We look forward to reviewing the details of the Panel’s first set of recommendations. I am heartened that many of the CBP’s interactions with the panel members centered around furthering integrity, Use of Force policy, and transparency efforts  already implemented or underway.  I am committed to continuing the progress made in the last year and to continue our work to earn the trust and respect of the American public and of the communities we work within.”