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The Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security completed an investigation of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and their ability to detect chemical of biological weapons that might be smuggled into the country by terrorists,via our nation's waterways. The news is not good: CBP officials said that new devices are currently being developed and tested that could better enable officers to rapidly detect and identify biological and chemical threats during cargo inspections. However, CBP has not conducted a formal risk assessment to determine which pathways, including maritime cargo, pose the highest risk of biological and chemical weapons...

The busiest border crossing in the country was open again Wednesday morning after closing for hours during a shootout between federal agents and vans suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants into California from Mexico. Four were injured and traffic was stopped for four hours Tuesday near San Diego after the border patrol agents fired shots at the vehicles across nine lanes of highway. The 74 people crowded into the three vans were taken into federal custody. San Diego police spokesman Lt. Kevin Rooney said Tuesday the drivers tried to storm past inspectors at the San Ysidro port of entry — which...

Mexico replaced all 700 of its customs inspectors with agents newly trained to detect contraband, from guns and drugs to TVs and other big-ticket appliances smuggled to avoid import duties. The shake-up — part of a broader effort to root out corruption and improve vigilance at Mexican ports with new technology — doubled the size of Mexico's customs inspection force. The inspectors at all 49 of Mexico's customs points were replaced with 1,400 better-educated agents who have undergone background checks and months of training, Tax Administration Service spokesman Pedro Canabal said Sunday. He said the inspectors were not fired. Instead,...

Mexican Army takes over customs operations on US border

Master Sgt. Moty McKinney (left), a native of Saginaw, Mich., an advisor with the 24th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division Military Training and Transition Team, shares a laugh with Command Sgt. Maj. Mahmud Lafta, 24th Bde. 6th I.A. Div., during lunch at Forward Operating Base Constitution, May 26. Photo by Sgt. Dustin Roberts. BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division - Baghdad food service Soldiers had the opportunity to experience a meal that isn't served in the dining facility where they work. Soldiers serving with the Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, MND-B, who help feed 2nd...

An international fugitive may have entered the United States last month after promising immigration officials he would show up for a closer screening a few weeks later. The man never showed, and federal authorities are now trying to track him down, according to court documents. Last week a federal judge issued an arrest warrant for the man, who flew into New York's J.F.K. International Airport in early April. According to the court documents, immigration officers fingerprinted him during the "arrival process," which "resulted in a possible match" to a man named Frank Dwomoh, who is on the run from Interpol,...

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2009 – It’s tempting to want to scoop up a handful of sand to take home as a souvenir after deploying to Iraq, or maybe a rock from the mountains in Afghanistan. A soldier empties his backpack of restricted or prohibited items into the red amnesty box at the inspection table at the U.S. Navy customs unit at the Theater Gateway in Kuwait. Troops and civilians traveling on military-contracted airlines back to the United States pass through the unit. DoD photo courtesy of the Media Transit Team, Kuwait  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. But deployed...

Staff Col. Talil Ali Hussein (center), dean of the Department of Border Enforcement Joint Training Center, addresses the course graduates at the Basrah International Airport, March 18. Courtesy photo. BASRAH — Ten Department of Border Enforcement trainers graduated from a Customs and Immigration Trainer Course at the Basrah International Airport here, March 18.Completion of  the three-week course is another milestone achievement for the Department of Border Enforcement (DBE) and their Coalition Border Transition Teams as they work together to enhance the capabilities of the DBE and secure the borders of Iraq.“The instructors have been very [well] trained over the past...

Homeland Insanity The Blue Jackets travel party landed safely at 4:06 a.m. Monday. Odd timing, as that's roughly the time when the computer system used by U.S. Customs agents at Port Columbus crashed. What followed in the next hour and 20 minutes was a maddening sequence of government red tape, bureaucratic blather and remarkable incompetency. The Blue Jackets travel party numbers roughly 50, when you consider the players, coaching staff, training staff, equipment guys, traveling secretaries and media. As the group made it off the plane and wound its way toward an empty Customs area, the long trip home came...

"My country has let me down." That's the assessment of an Arizona rancher who was sued by six illegal immigrants he detained on his property and turned over to the Border Patrol in 2004. On Tuesday an eight-member federal jury in Tucson threw out the claim brought by the six illegal aliens that Roger Barnett violated their civil rights when he detained them at gunpoint on his ranch nearly five years ago. The panel also ruled against the plaintiffs' claims of battery and false imprisonment. But the jury did find Barnett liable on four claims of assault and four claims...

Federal officials said this morning they have indicted an Afghan national for lying about his alleged ties to terrorists in a bid to fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport. Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, 34, who was arrested without incident this morning at his Tustin residence by members of the joint terrorism task force, was named in a five-count indictment returned Feb. 11 by a federal grand jury. The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges Niazi hid associations with “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban, when he

An off-duty customs agent shopping at a west Houston liquor store shot and killed a man who attempted to rob the store Friday night, police said. The man, who has not yet been identified by police, approached the front counter of Spec’s Town and Country, at 12901 Queensbury around 7:30 p.m., pulled out a gun and ordered customers to the floor. “The agent pulled out his weapon and ordered the suspect to drop his weapon,” Houston police spokesman Gabriel Ortiz said. “The suspect ignored that order and pointed his weapon at the agent,” he continued. “It was at that point...

CLEVELAND -- The aunt of President Barack Obama, who was living in Cleveland for a time, will get to stay in the United States for now. A judge issued a stay in the deportation case of Zeituni Onyango, 56. She fled to Cleveland from Boston last year when it was made known that she had been illegally in the United States since

By Michael Webster, Syndicated Investigative Reporter Early this month U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Tucson, Ariz. sector and agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were again fired upon with what appeared to be military type automatic weapons by Mexican drug smugglers dressed in military garb. Agents after observing a Flatbed tow truck on the Mexican side of the U.S. Mexican border backed up to the new international border fence. According to witnesses the tow truck backed up on a newly constructed earthen dirt berm which put the truck almost even with the height of the fence. The tow...

Garry Latcham thought he was carrying a harmless gift for his North Carolina host when he boarded a plane from his native England in November, planning to spend four days hunting in rural Person County. Instead, the gifts -- two silencers intended for air guns -- landed Latcham and his traveling companion in jail for nearly a month, after customs agents mistook the men for terrorists. Federal officials now say that the men were vacationers with no criminal plot. But they were still forced to plead guilty to felonies, because they failed to declare the $55 silencers on their customs...

SAN DIEGO – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are trying to reach out to human smuggling victims through advertisements featured in major cities, including San Diego. Advertisements posted on billboards and transit shelters with the slogan, “Hidden in Plain Sight” were put on display in June around San Diego county. The goal is to educate the public about the existence of human trafficking in the country and urge them to report such crimes, officials said. “These victims are domestic servants, sweat shop employees, sex workers and others lured here by the promise of prosperity, then forced to work without...

(Houston, TX) – Eighteen individuals , including alleged drug traffickers and the owners/operators of commercial bus companies operating from Mexico into the Rio Grande Valley to numerous U.S. cities and their drivers, have been indicted for transporting large loads of marijuana and cocaine in specially modified commercial buses and money laundering. The indictment is the result of a long-term Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation dubbed Operation Road King II. United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced the unsealing of the indictment today at a press conference. The 16-count indictment returned by a Houston grand jury March 31, 2008,...

Bartenders serve up drinks, customs checks Policy at 2 halls called unfair to immigrants Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Maria Sacchetti Globe Staff / April 24, 2008 All the 33-year-old illegal immigrant wanted was a beer. After nearly a decade in this country, the Irish national knew to steer clear of police and federal agents. But he was stunned this month when a bartender at the Orpheum refused to serve him because his passport lacked a US Customs stamp.

ORLANDO, FL -- A small Florida company has turned one of the world's most popular high tech gadgets into a tool for American troops that can help save lives. "They speak with their hands -- a lot," US Army Sergeant Darren Williams said, remembering the times he worked to communicate with the local people during his year as a soldier in Iraq. "If you grab something, or if you say, 'Hold it.' Or, 'Pick it up. Pick it up.' You use that a lot, too," the Jacksonville-based Army recruiter said, waving his hands through a series of gestures. For Williams,...

(Niagara, N.Y.) AP -- Canadian shoppers taking advantage of the parity between the U.S. and Canadian dollars are leaving behind more than cash when the head home. They're leaving behind their old clothes. Some Canadian shoppers wear their new clothes home to avoid paying a duty when they cross back into Canada. The old clothes get left behind in parking lots, dressing rooms and restrooms at malls and shopping plazas in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region. At the Fashion Outlets mall just outside the city of Niagara Falls, managers have placed collection bins near the exits where Canadians customers can deposit...

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Calexico, Calif. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Calexico, Calif. east commercial facility detained a Mexican truck driver after they discovered 8.85 tons of marijuana commingled with a shipment of television screens at the port Friday afternoon, Port Director Billy Whitford said today. The 25-year-old driver, a resident of Mexicali, was registered in the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program and was driving a 1992 GMC tractor-trailer with a shipment manifested as flat screen televisions. As the truck waited in line to enter the U.S. through the FAST lane at about 4:20 p.m., CBP canine officers conducted...

Phoenix – A mother and daughter, both wanted in Florida on charges of racketeering, were apprehended by alert U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Wednesday night. While screening passengers arriving from Mexico City, CBP officers examined documents belonging to 24-year-old Silvana Theurell-Portillo. While asking routine questions of Theurell-Portillo, the officers queried her name in their systems and discovered that she was a fugitive, wanted in St. Lucie County, Fla. on gambling and racketeering charges. During questioning of her mother, 65-year-old Marina Portillo, CBP officers discovered that she also was wanted on similar charges in...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement criminal investigators will no longer be involved in immigration work site enforcement or conduct checks for illegal alien prisoners. Almost 1,000 ICE Office of Investigations agents will be reassigned exclusively to customs investigations, reducing the manpower involved in detention and removal of illegal aliens to 4,000 nationwide, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times and interviews with ICE union representatives. ICE officials refused to comment on the internal documents or clarify the number of investigators that are to be reassigned. The Washington Times has obtained an internal August memorandum written by ICE Office of Investigations...

PORT ANGELES - A car carrying four men reportedly sped through the U.S. Customs port of entry off the ferry from Victoria on Wednesday night. The Port Angeles Police Department received a report through the PenCom dispatch center of the car failing to stop for inspection. The car disembarked off the MV Coho at about 9:20 p.m. after the day's last southbound sailing. It reportedly raced past the checkpoint so quickly that nobody could determine a license plate number or even the plates' jurisdiction. The car turned left - or eastbound - onto Railroad Avenue from the port of entry,...

On June 5, 2007, a group of three Dutch tourists tried to leave Russia in a car filled with church relics. The customs service on the Russia-Estonia border stopped the car and seized 6 exclusive Orthodox icons and silver casings for them.

The Cross-Cultural Do's And Don'ts Between Israel And US (Photo) The American handshake: smile, eye contact, reach in and maintain physical space. By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Ra'anana, Israel ---- May 12, 2007 ...... There are many smart and innovative companies in Israel. But even with the finest minds, products and services, quite often business people in Israel trying to penetrate the US market run smack head-on into walls. Cultural walls. Leyden Communications (Israel), a full service, worldwide business to business marketing, media, Internet SEO and e-commerce consultancy organization, has been providing the doing business - the do's and...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, April 16, 2007 — A new facility to streamline out-processing for servicemembers here opened, April 12. The new permanent customs building, the first in the country, officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Army and Air Force officials and members of the 1st Expeditionary “Red Horse” Group, who built the facility. On hand for the ceremony were the 455th Expeditionary Mission Support Group Commander, Air Force Col. Terri Chaney; the theater provost marshal Army Col. James Gray; deputy commander for base operations, Army Lt. Col. James Bonner; provost marshal Army Lt. Col. Antonio Pietri and deputy...

"If it can happen to them, it can happen to any one of us. It has definitely had an adverse affect on agents involved in border security." -Mark Parsons, President, Fraternal Order of Police in El Paso, Texas, Customs and Border Protection agent By now, everyone in North America, and especially certain Mexicans are familiar with the case of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm and violating the civil rights of a drug smuggler and illegal alien at the U.S. - Mexican border. Absent of a...

The question of counterfeit and adulterate products endangering the economic security of Russia has been discussed for quite a long time, but these are only talks. 62% of Russians apprehend to buy a counterfeit good, while going shopping. According to the results of the survey undertaken by the Public Opinion Fund, 53% of Russians purchased counterfeit goods during the past year. 44% of the respondents believe that food commodities (particularly meat and dairy products, preserves, etc.) are most frequently falsified; 31% consider medicaments to rank first. 21% of the pollees mentioned clothes, which is on the third place. Apart from...

HAVANA (AP)--Fidel Castro, in his role as president of the Nonaligned Movement, decried the detention of Venezuela's foreign minister at a New York airport, calling it a "vulgar provocation." A statement issued late Saturday said the Cuban leader reacted "with indignation" upon hearing that Nicolas Maduro was detained for 90 minutes at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He said the incident was an "unacceptable violation" of international norms regarding diplomats. The leader "extends his most vigorous protest of this vulgar provocation, which could take place again against any member of the Movement." The Venezuelan official was detained for 90 minutes...

In August of A.D. 258, the emperor Valerian ordered that all deacons, priests, and Bishops be put to death. Tradition via the Golden Legend tells us that Pope Sixtus II met with Lawrence, saying to him: "I shall not leave thee, my son, but greater strifes and battles be due to thee for the faith of Jesu Christ. We, as old men, have taken more lighter battle, and to thee as to a young man shall remain a more glorious battle of which thou shalt triumph and have victory of the tyrant, and shalt follow me within three days...

Politically biased U.S. Customs agents lay in wait for Rush Limbaugh to arrive at Palm Beach International Airport. They eagerly pounced on him and spread the word far and wide that he had committed a crime that was not a crime at all. That's what Limbaugh says happened when he arrived back in the United States last week, after a trip to the Dominican Republic. He told his national radio audience Wednesday that U.S. Customs agents were waiting to spring a trap for him and embarrass him in the national media. According to Limbaugh, when he got back from three...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is canceling his international travel plans in the near future, saying he doesn't want to be "framed" by U.S. Customs officials after last week's incident when he was detained for more than three hours for possession of Viagra prescribed in his doctor's name. "It takes one time, and I've got red flags up, and I'm not going to put myself in the position of being framed," Limbaugh said today on his national radio broadcast. "With all this partisanship that's out there, I'm just not going to make it easy for people...

<p>They called it Operation Motor City, and for five days, federal agents working late-night shifts in unmarked cars shadowed illegal immigrants living in towns and cities across southeast Michigan.</p> <p>By Wednesday, 63 immigrants -- most of them from Eastern European countries and ranging in age from 10 to 60 -- were in the process of being deported in one of the largest roundups yet in an ongoing effort to clear Michigan and Ohio of an estimated 4,500 illegal immigrants.</p>

Federal prosecutors charged a passenger in an SUV that was involved in a fatal shooting at the border last week with smuggling immigrants. They also released documents that offered more insight into the violent encounter. José Adolfo Gonzalez Fabian was charged yesterday in federal court with transporting illegal immigrants. He did not enter a plea, and a magistrate set bond at $75,000. He is next scheduled to appear in court June 6. Gonzalez was the passenger in a Dodge Durango that picked up four illegal immigrants in Otay Mesa, about two miles from the border crossing, and then tried to...

A “Purge” has been conducted on the FSB, MVD Prosecutor’s Office, Customs and the Federation Council. On Friday the Prime Minister was directed by the Russian president to order the forced retirements and firing of high ranking members of the FSB, MVD Prosecutor’s and Custom’s office and the Federal Customs Service. Federation Council members were also told to step down. These “retirements” were conducted in accordance with the government’s anti-corruption campaign. A government source told “Interfax” that this action was not a witch hunt, but was conducted in order to counteract the criminal elements that have taken hold in the...

New Yorkers are known to throw things onto the field at Yankee Stadium when the Red Sox are in town. At times they boo their own mayor at parades. Some refuse to surrender their seats to pregnant women on the subway, while others cut in line and never apologize. But somehow a city whose residents have long been scorned for their churlish behavior is now being praised for adopting rules and laws that govern personal conduct, making New York an unlikely model for legislating courtesy and decorum. From tighter restrictions on sports fans and car alarms to a new $50...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- About 400 Mobilized Reservists of Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force (NAVELSF) Forward Group Papa returned to Norfolk March 29 from a nearly seven-month deployment after providing support for the Department of Defense’s customs inspection mission in Iraq and Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Their mission was to ensure returning service members and equipment carried no unwanted plants, pests or diseases to American shores. NAVELSF Commander, Rear Adm. Hank Tomlin was on hand to welcome the Sailors home. “They’ve been incredibly successful in what would be considered a non-traditional Navy mission,” said Tomlin. “It’s a...

Congressional investigators testing U.S. port security smuggled enough radioactive material into the United States last year to make two radiological "dirty" bombs, officials told a Senate panel yesterday. In December, undercover teams from the Government Accountability Office, Congress's audit arm, carried small amounts of cesium-137 -- a radioactive material used for cancer therapy, industrial gauges and well logging -- in the trunks of rental cars through border checkpoints in Texas and Washington state. The material triggered radiation alarms, but the smugglers used false documents to persuade U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspectors to let them through with it. "These are...

On the off chance that you missed C-Span's "Washington Journal," here are excerpts from an appearance by Jayson Ahern, Assistant Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, and Coast Guard Rear Admiral Thomas Gilmour on that program, which were helpfully forwarded by the White House: HOST: Jayson Ahern, ... There are more than 300 ports of entry in the U.S., are they safe? CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER JAYSON AHERN: I believe they are. Certainly, we're on a path of continuous improvement, but the many layers we've put in place since the 9/11 tragedy I think has strengthened our port...

A former U.S. Customs supervisor, who authorities say helped smuggle tens of thousands of kilos of cocaine through Newark's seaport and airport, was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison yesterday in a drug case the judge called the worst he has ever seen involving a government official. In imposing sentence on Jorge Reyeros, U.S. District Judge William Bassler said anyone who misuses their office "in such a heinous way has to suffer the consequences." Bassler, sitting in Newark, also sentenced Reyeros' older brother, Juan, to nearly 19 years in prison for helping in the crime. While a federal...

Per the 1962 Missal, today's Feast is that of St. Ignatius of Antioch, but St. Brigid, though not celebrated liturgically by those using the 1962 Missal, is still honored today, especially among the Irish.BR> St. Brigid -- her name is correctly pronounced "Brigg-id" or "Bree-id" but almost never is -- was born in A.D. 451 or 452 to a pagan father (Dubthach) and Christian slave mother (Broicsech) just after the time that St. Patrick was preaching (St. Patrick died in A.D. 493). It is said a Bishop -- a follower of St. Patrick -- met the pregnant slave woman...

Federal agents dropped in on a distribution center that is under construction in Schuylkill County Thursday morning to round up workers who are allegedly in this country illegally. Agents from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration, state police and members of the Schuylkill County Sheriff's office arrived at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center that is going up in the High Ridge Business Park near Minersville, Pennsylvania. They were looking for suspected illegal immigrants. The workers were placed on white buses brought in by the federal agents. In all, three buses were brought to the business park. Everyone taken into custody was...

Julie L. Myers, nominated to be assistant secretary of homeland security in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is scheduled for a confirmation vote Friday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. On Tuesday, however, four Judiciary Committee members asked Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) for shared jurisdiction, adding a new hurdle for Myers.

On August 26, 2005, the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, and the Coalition for Immigration Reform of California co-sponsored a conference on illegal immigration at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Below are the transcripts of speeches given by three of the participants in that conference: Heather MacDonald, a John M. Olin fellow at the Manhattan Institute; Dr. James Edwards, an Adjunct Fellow at the Hudson Institute; and Dr. Glynn Custred, a Professor of Anthropology at California State University, the East Bay. All three touch on the interrelated nature...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Robert C. Bonner, said Wednesday that he will retire. He and the Bush administration have been at odds over his support for using civilian "minutemen" along the U.S.-Mexico border to assist border patrol agents. President Bush has equated the self-proclaimed volunteer group with "vigilantes." Bonner told CNN on Wednesday that he was not asked to resign. He told reporters that it was "just time." "I mean, I didn't come back here to serve a life tenure," he told reporters. "I came back to serve. And I have put in...

WASHINGTON U-S Customs authorities denied entry to a man who apparently later became a suicide bomber. An internal Homeland Security memo says Customs agents in Chicago blocked a Jordanian man from entering the country in June of 2003. The memo says an interview raised questions about whether his true intent for entering the country matched the notes on his visa. The man (Ra'ed Mansour al-Banna) was later accused of carrying out one of Iraq's deadliest suicide bombings this past February. His family and the Jordanian government confirm he carried out a suicide bombing in Iraq -- but they say it...

Many people have e-mailed asking for my opinion on the emerging Operation Able Danger story--in which army intelligence personnel were barred from notifying the FBI about Mohammed Atta. While I agree that the Pentagon lawyers who stopped the Able Danger operatives from notifying the FBI are culpable, and their behavior is an outrage, my take is different from most conservative commentators. I really don't think the FBI would have acted on the information. Instead, today, we'd be sweeping under the rug yet more ineptitude by the, unfortunately, "lead agency" in the War on Terror. Let's look at what the FBI...

How do you keep a terrorist from smuggling a radiation-filled "dirty bomb" or other weapon in one of the seven million-plus shipping containers that arrive at U.S. ports each year? That question has dogged policy makers, customs agents and counterterrorism experts ever since [9/11].... Customs and Border Protection has sought to secure global shipping by relying on intelligence and scrutinizing suspicious cargo manifests -- such as an unrefrigerated container full of "frozen fish" -- to identify potentially dangerous shipments long before they reach American shores. But critics say this method is flawed because the information on shipping documents if often...