Hotlines set up by the Obama administration for illegals to vent about their treatment by border patrol agents required a staff of 208 who spent over 85,000 hours working on the complaints, according to Department of Homeland Security documents.

Over 20 months, 14,310 calls were lodged with the complaint hotline created because some illegals felt that their rights under Obama-era amnesty policies were being abused.

Documents provided under the Freedom of Information Act to Washington-based Immigration Reform Law Institute revealed that 85,414.5 man hours were spent handling the calls

IRLI, which sought the documents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, estimated the hotline's cost to taxpayers at about $15 million.

The hotlines were created in December 2013 and illegals were urged to "tell us about your experience," especially if they felt they were treated "contrary to the new DHS enforcement priorities."

At issue was how border agents handled Obama's amnesty policy for illegals already in the U.S.

Complaints from illegals tabulated in the FOIA documents included long lines, "employee conduct," frequent searches and the condition of immigration service offices.

— "Employee conduct," 3,039 complaints.

— "Frequent searches/one time delay," 1,222 complaints.

— "Poor staffing/long lines," 852 complaints.

Notably, there were 1,310 calls to compliment immigration officials.

"This would seem to go against groups like the ACLU who constantly harangue our law enforcement at the border for their 'rampant corruption and abuses,'" said IRLI Executive Director and General Counsel Dale L. Wilcox.

The hotline prompted outrage among border agents and the union representing them said that the Obama administration should have set up a complaint hotline for border officials to call in to and vent about the former president's refusal to enforce immigration laws.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com