Border
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said the agency's Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) program has finalized its review and update of its Minimum Security Criteria (MSC).
The result stems from CBP formally requesting the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) recently expressed support for the Border Patrol Pay Security Act of 2019 (H.R. 2335), which would reinstate overtime pay for Border Patrol agents.
“More manpower is desperately needed at our southwest border,” Rogers, ranking member of the House Homeland Security... Read More »
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reallocating Southwest border resources as a means of addressing human smuggling operations and immigration law exploitation.
ICE is using personnel to investigate the use of fraudulent documents to create fake families seeking to exploit immigration... Read More »
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently purchased mobile biometric fingerprint sensors from Integrated Biometrics.
CBP purchased Kojak Light Emitting Sensor technology 10-fingerprint scanners to use at more than 5,000 workstations at the United States Ports of Entry.
The scanners... Read More »
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is planning to construct new bollard walls within the U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma and El Paso sectors in Arizona and Texas.
The projects call for approximately 53 miles of new bollard wall -- which is a wall made up of steel slats -- in place of... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have selected Felix Chavez to serve as Chief Patrol Agent within the Laredo Sector.
Border Patrol Chief Carla L. Provost recently announced the selection, noting Chavez entered on duty with the Border Patrol in July 1985 as a member of Academy Class... Read More »
In accordance with the Border Patrol comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently unveiled a new retention incentive for GS-12 and GS-13 Border Patrol agents.
“Investing in the men and women of the United States Border Patrol continues to be... Read More »
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan recently offered an assessment of his McAllen, Texas, trip to gain insight regarding challenges faced at the U.S. Southern Border.
The effort involved observing the potential strategic and operational obstacles encountered by law enforcement... Read More »
With Holy Week (Semana Santa) soon approaching, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) officials said Laredo Field Office (LFO) holiday preparation is continuing.
“Our CBP officers and agriculture specialists are the nation’s frontline of defense against all... Read More »
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Joint Task Force-West (JTF-W) South Texas Corridor officials are espousing the benefits of collaborative efforts to thwart transnational criminal activity.
With the advent of the Southern Border and Approaches Campaign launched in December... Read More »
Senate Democrats are
asking Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to clarify statements made
by Department of Defense (DOD) officials about the deployment of military
personnel to the southwest border.
In their letter to
Shanahan, the senators are seeking assurances that this deployment... Read More »
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) forwarded correspondence last week to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin seeking specific Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) designations.
In his letter, Rubio, chairman of the... Read More »
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), reintroduced
legislation last week that would reduce foreign aid to El Salvador, Guatemala,
and Honduras by $30,000 for each of its unaccompanied alien children placed in
U.S. federal custody.
The Unaccompanied Alien Children Assistance
Control Act is designed to... Read More »
The number of nonimmigrant visa (NIV) applications issue by U.S.
State Department consular officers decreased in fiscal
year 2017 to 880,000 after increasing annually from fiscal years 2012 through
2016, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
Applications... Read More »
A mission by agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) seized more than three tons of drugs from a vessel off the coast of Central America last week.
The drugs, estimated to be worth $17 million, were plucked from a moderately-sized, open-bed fishing... Read More »
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) recently visited McAllen, Texas, to assess the situation along the southern border, meeting with law enforcement officials, landowners, agriculture producers, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.
Challenges and resources needed to secure the border in a... Read More »
A group of lawmakers recently questioned the Department of Defense's transfer of $1 billion in military personnel funding to an account designated for border wall funding.
Democratic members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on... Read More »
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen met this
week with senior officials from Mexico and other central American nations to
discuss border security and immigration.
On March 26, Nielsen met with Mexican Secretary of the
Interior Olga Sanchez Cordero and other senior Mexican... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) and Coast Guard personnel recently thwarted an attempt to smuggle 2,513 pounds of cocaine valued at $28.5 million.
Authorities arrested three Dominican Republic aliens found operating the vessel. Bales of narcotics were... Read More »
In an assessment of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) annually required reporting on 43 measures of border security effectiveness, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found data limitations and issues with statistical models.
It should be noted: most of what GAO... Read More »
A multi-agency examination
of shipping containers at the Area Port of Philadelphia discovered more than 1,100
pounds of cocaine on March 19.
The cocaine,
weighing 1,185 pounds, was discovered in a shipping container commodity of
natural rubber from Guatemala. The narcotics have a street value... Read More »
Air and Marine Operations (AMO) personnel are being credited with intercepting an international cocaine smuggling attempt in which the narcotics were valued at over $76 million.
Authorities said officers patrolling the Eastern Pacific ocean aboard a P-3 aircraft detected suspects transporting... Read More »
Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen delivered Monday the 2019
State of Homeland Security Address, which included operational challenges, the ever-changing
security landscape and the department’s strategic plan.
The address also
included the department’s major... Read More »
U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) recently swore in Donald R. Kusser as port director for
the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
In this role,
Kusser is responsible for managing all operational and administrative aspects
of port security and trade facilitation, including air cargo,... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers in Laredo, Texas, recently intercepted an alleged cocaine smuggling effort yielding a $109,000 forfeiture.
The March 5 seizure at the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge stemmed from a CBP officer referring a... Read More »
Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) recently introduced the Anti-Border Corruption Improvement Act, which she said is designed to quicken the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hiring process.
McSally said the bill eliminates the polygraph test, which officials said is a requirement in the CBP hiring... Read More »
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said the agency's Chicago Field Office (CFO) set a record number of seizures during fiscal year 2018.
CBP authorities said in fiscal year 2018, the CFO intercepted more than 24,000 packages of narcotics while weighing more than 30,000 pounds in mail... Read More »
A group of lawmakers recently introduced Singh’s Law, a measure designed to prevent known gang members and those convicted of dangerous crimes from entering the country.
Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA)... Read More »
Several groups, including the National Sheriff’s
Association, voiced their support for a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton
(R-AR) that would bar aliens associated with a criminal gang and convicted of a
crime from entering the United States.
The bill, called Singh's law, says aliens... Read More »
Reps. Will Hurd (R-TX), Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM) and Henry Cuellar (D-TX) introduced last week a measure designed to streamline and amend the overtime payment process, enabling border patrol personnel greater compensation flexibility.
The Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Amendment Act of 2019... Read More »
Federal lawmakers are focused on deterring domestic terrorism, which now ranks alongside — or possibly even eclipses — the prevention of global extremist threats against the nation, said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
“What’s on our minds a lot now is... Read More »
A bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives that would allow assets seized from Mexican drug lords,
including Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, to be used to secure the
southern border.
The Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to
Provide Order (EL CHAPO) Act would set... Read More »
Savannah, Georgia-based Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers recently thwarted a narcotics smuggling effort resulting in the seizure of cocaine valued at $19 million.
Officers working at the Savannah seaport last November encountered a Cartagena,... Read More »
Secretary of
Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen met Feb. 20 with Northern Triangle
security ministers in El Salvador to discuss the ongoing humanitarian and
security crisis caused by the formation of migrant caravans and irregular
migration.
During the
meeting, the officials agreed to a plan... Read More »
With President Donald Trump’s stated intention to use an emergency declaration to shift funds from other projects for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) has written the Acting Secretary of Defense demanding a list of projects put at risk by the effort.
A number of military... Read More »
