When her husband died after a grueling U.S. Border Patrol training program for new agents, Lisa Afolayan applied for the federal benefits promised to families of first responders whose lives are cut short in the line of duty. Sixteen years later, Afolayan and her two daughters haven't seen a penny, and program officials are defending their decisions to deny them compensation. “It just makes me so mad that we are having to fight this so hard,” said Afolayan, whose husband, Nate, had been hired to guard the U.S. border with Mexico in southern California.