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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.