Border
The bill that would fund a roughly $23 billion wall along the southern border was introduced in Congress last week.
The Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act of 2018, H.R. 7059, also includes measures to cut off funds to sanctuary cities and facilitates the deportation of immigrant gang... Read More »
Javier Alfredo Valle Anaya, a former intelligence agent of a disbanded Colombian intelligence agency, was arrested Oct. 5 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigrating under false pretenses.
The former agent was convicted and wanted in Colombia for the 2004 murders of a... Read More »
A range of global security issues, including terrorism, were discussed during a recent meeting between U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock.
Sessions and Stock touched on several joint initiatives, including a project to strengthen the capacity of law... Read More »
Leaders of the U.S. intelligence community focused on security threats posed by China, with little attention paid to Russia, during an annual oversight hearing by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security... Read More »
Texas A&M University was selected to lead a consortium of U.S. academic institutions, among others, for a new Center of Excellence (COE) for Cross-Border Threat Screening and Supply Chain Defense (CBTS).
The project will be funded by a $3.85 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Nogales Port Director Michael Humphries was recently sworn into office during a formal ceremony held at the Mariposa crossing in Arizona.
Humphries will ensure customs and agriculture inspections are in-line with U.S. laws and regulations and will... Read More »
During a 10-day enforcement operation this month, officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) reported the arrest of 98 criminal aliens and immigration violators in North Texas and Oklahoma.
Sixty-seven of those arrested had criminal... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives advanced this week legislation to improve safety, scheduling, and compensation for Border Patrol agents.
The Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Amendment Act of 2018, sponsored by Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), addresses pay and scheduling issues that have impeded the... Read More »
Quanergy Systems, Inc. received $200,000 from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) last week for the development of LiDAR-based technology for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
LiDAR – Light Detection and Ranging – is a means of... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations (CBP OFO) seized $4.2 million worth of heroin and methamphetamine last week at the Pharr International Bridge, between Texas and Mexico. The narcotics were hidden inside a commercial trailer carrying fresh produce.
A red Kenworth... Read More »
Cocaine valued at more than $25 million was seized last month during a Joint Interagency Task Force South interception of a low-profile vessel moving in the international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
In all, nearly a ton of cocaine was pulled from the vessel after it was spotted by a... Read More »
The U.S. House of Representatives advanced a bill this week to improve border security and prevent potential terrorists and dangerous criminals from entering the country.
The Biometric Identification Migration Alert Program (BITMAP) Authorization Act of 2018 (H.R. 6439) would fully authorize... Read More »
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS) is is no longer in service, leaving boaters to turn to the new Reporting Offsite Arrival-Mobile (ROAM) app.
While float plans will no longer be accepted, existing SVRS numbers are still valid. They can be entered... Read More »
Puerto Rico now hosts a new, $4.7 million marine unit facility of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s air and marine operations (AMO).
Located on nearly an acre of land, the facility plays host to a new 41-foot SAFE Boat, filled with safety equipment and electronic packages to enhance... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will run a facial comparison technical demonstration for vehicle travelers this week at the Anzalduas International Bridge Port of Entry in McAllen, Texas.
The system will use a camera to take a picture of travelers entering and departing the United... Read More »
U.S. Border Patrol recently named Scott Luck as the agency’s new deputy chief.
Luck has been chief of the Law Enforcement Operations Directorate at the Border Patrol Headquarters in Washington, D.C., since 2014 and has served as the acting deputy chief since April 2017.
“I am deeply... Read More »
DataRobot received Monday a $200,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) to begin testing a machine learning platform for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Travel Assessment System.
DataRobot, based in Tysons Corner, Va.,... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Washington Dulles International Airport recently discovered pork sausage links concealed in an El Salvadoran woman’s baby formula cans.
Swine meat from El Salvador is not allowed to enter the United States because of the... Read More »
Tucson Sector Border Patrol personnel recently touted the benefits of UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters toward the effort to bolster border security.
Officials said the detail was deployed last month to assist in Operation Guardian Support, aiding transport capabilities in remote areas of southern... Read More »
Though President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2017 to restrict the issuance of visas and instigate changes to nonimmigrant visa (NIV) screening and vetting, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently found that 90 percent of visas remained unaffected by this change.
Of the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate has developed new technology that will assist federal agents in investigating human smuggling.
The data analytics software program, called Igloo, is already in use by select units of U.S. Immigration and Customs... Read More »
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 45 illegal aliens in the Houston area for violating U.S. immigration laws.
The arrests took place over a five-day period, which ended last Friday. At-large criminal aliens, many of whom had fled... Read More »
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen toured the Grand Sky Technology Park in North Dakota last week and participated in a roundtable discussion with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) industry leaders.
Grand Sky Technology Park, located at Grand Forks Air Force Base,... Read More »
The Gary/Chicago International Airport recently held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its $1.5 million state-of-the-art U.S. Customs and Border Protection general aviation facility.
The facility will allow general aviation aircraft to arrive directly at the Gary airport without having to clear U.S.... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) recently completed a multiday, congressional delegation visit to the California-Mexico border. During the trip, the Congress members visited a U.S. Naval Air Station and tunnel site, a U.S. Border Patrol station, the San Ysidro Port of Entry, and the Otay Mesa Detention... Read More »
Migration over the Southwestern border dropped nearly 7 percent in July compared to June, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) rates fell nearly 23 percent while Family Units declined less than 1 percent.
“This decrease shows that when there... Read More »
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 52,656,022 nonimmigrants visited the country in 2017, and of these, only a small fraction -- 701,900 -- overstayed their original trips.
The report based its findings on lack of identifiable evidence of departures, extensions of... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently began testing eight barrier design prototypes for the U.S. border wall with Mexico, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns they are doing so without an analysis of cost.
Topography, land ownership, and other factors all play a part... Read More »
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials announced this week that Operation Guardian Support is expanding at Arizona’s ports of entry as the National Guard continues to improve border security.
The operation began in April. It has 491 volunteer National Guard members at the... Read More »
Reps. Tom Rice (R-SC) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) recently introduced legislation designed to enhance international tourism to America while improving national security.
The Jobs Originating through Launching Travel (JOLT) Act would also reform outdated visa laws, create jobs, and rename the Visa... Read More »
The U.S. Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV) recently established an Incident Management Team, which will work with the Emergency Operation Center during natural disasters or wide-scale emergencies.
The team, comprised of Border Patrol personnel from across the RGV, met last week to... Read More »
Officers with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested 132 individuals on criminal and civil violations at the conclusion of Operation Eagle’s Shield last week.
Eagle’s Shield, which ran from July 9 to July 20, was an... Read More »
The House Homeland Security Committee has advanced the Biometric Identification Migration Alert Program (BITMAP) Authorization Act of 2018 to help better identify national security threats.
The legislation was introduced by Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and was co-sponsored by Rep.... Read More »
Air and Marine Operations agents recently flew over the Rio Grande Sector as part of the Border Patrol Missing Migrant Program. The agents, from the McAllen Air Brach, conducted a familiarization flight for Central America’s Northern Triangle and Mexico (TRICAMEX).
TRICAMEX, comprised of the... Read More »
Citing the practice of countries illegally importing goods by transhipping them through other countries, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) called on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Wednesday to use existing tools to crack down on illegal trade.
Portman urged CBP Administrator Kevin... Read More »
