C.B.P. News Release

CBP Announces Fiscal Year 2010 Achievements for Southern California Ports of Entry

(Tuesday, February 22, 2011)

San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers conducting security operations at California’s ports of entry with Mexico performed more than 63 million inspections of travelers, seized almost 90 tons of illegal narcotics and apprehended more than 41,000 immigration violators during federal fiscal year 2010.

CBP’s field office in San Diego includes more than 1,900 front-line federal officers, agriculture specialists, and other staff working to operate and secure the passenger and commercial border stations at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Tecate, Calexico, Andrade and the San Diego air and sea ports of entry.

During the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, CBP officers at ports in San Diego and Imperial counties inspected more than 25 million passenger vehicles, more than 1 million trucks, more than 107,000 buses, and slightly more than 14 million pedestrians entering the U.S.

CBP’s increased focus on outbound inspections since March 2009 has significantly increased the cost of doing business for violent criminal organizations. Along the California/Mexico border, seizures of unreported currency departing the country grew 338 percent to more than $6 million during fiscal year 2010.

Also this past fiscal year, marijuana seizures decreased 41 percent to 164,885 pounds; cocaine seizures increased 11 percent to 8,771 pounds; heroin seizures decreased 8 percent to 570 pounds; and methamphetamine seizures increased 48 percent to 5,456 pounds.

The focused enforcement efforts by ports in San Diego and Imperial counties accounted for 30 percent of the marijuana, 14 percent of the cocaine, 15 percent of the heroin, and 72 percent of the methamphetamine seized at air, sea, and land ports of entry nationwide.

The apprehension of individuals with outstanding felony warrants for such crimes as homicide, robbery and assault by local, state or federal police agencies experienced a slight decrease: 1,774 this fiscal year compared to 1,925 arrests during the same period last year.

CBP officers with the San Diego field office stopped more than 41,000 persons for various immigration violations, including persons with counterfeit or altered documents; imposters with legitimate documents that did not belong to them; illegal aliens attempting to avoid inspection and enter the country, such as by hiding in a compartment within a car; and other violators.

CBP agriculture specialists performed 8,529,100 agricultural inspections in the passenger environment and 46,596 inspections in the cargo environment. These inspections resulted in 85,899 seizures of prohibited plant materials, soil, meat, or animal products and finding 923 cargo shipments that did not meet the U.S. entry requirements, causing the shipments to be either sent back, treated, or destroyed.

At cargo processing facilities in Southern California, CBP personnel collected an estimated $149.8 million in duties, money which goes into the national treasury to fund government expenditures. CBP officers and import specialist processed merchandise, imported into the U.S., worth and estimated $32.8 billion. In addition to processing legitimate trade at the border crossings, CBP officers also made 63 separate seizures of products accused of intellectual property rights violations. The seized products had an estimated domestic value of more than $847,000.

“These impressive results should be credited to the men and women serving on the front lines at our ports of entry,â€