The open house – one of 23 around the country – drew some 520 people, said Eric Cantu, an agency spokesman. The agency is hiring 2,200 new agents – 1,200 to replace those lost through attrition, plus 1,000 additional agents to be stationed along the border.

"Most of (the additional agents) will be sent to the Tucson Sector," he said, declining to give specific numbers.

The Tucson Sector has about 3,000 of the total 20,200 agents, and if it gets even half of the additional agents, the number in the sector will increase by 17 percent.

Besides the boost in manpower, the sector will get additional equipment: roughly 10 mobile surveillance systems and 10 scope trucks, and some 50 heat-sensing binoculars, he said.

In August, Congress mandated $600 million for agents and equipment along the border. Although apprehensions of illegal immigrants have declined in recent years, flaring violence in northern Mexico and the unsolved shooting of a Cochise County rancher have thrust border security into the spotlight.

Cantu said the agency hopes to have all 2,200 hired by Oct. 1, though it would probably be more than a year before the agents are out in the field.