Border security

Exclusive: Customs and Border Protection Gains an Extra Layer of Secrecy

Under President Trump, US immigration authorities have pushed for extraordinary privileges and increased secrecy from the public.

On Friday, the Trump administration quietly designated the entire Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, which polices US borders, as a “Security Agency,” according to an internal memo obtained by The Nation. This follows repeated attempts by federal immigration authorities to dramatically expand their reach in recent years.

The memo, which was signed by CBP’s Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan and dated January 31, places CBP under the same designation as highly secretive intelligence and law enforcement agencies like the FBI and Secret Service. This grants CBP greater secrecy by exempting certain records from disclosure to the public.

Border security

Coronavirus: European Union seals borders to most outsiders

The EU is banning travellers from outside the bloc for 30 days in an unprecedented move to seal its borders amid the coronavirus crisis.

The measure is expected to apply to 26 EU states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. UK citizens will be unaffected.

The ban came as deaths continued to soar in Italy and Spain, and France began a strict lockdown.

Europe has been badly hit by the virus, which has killed 7,500 globally.

More than 185,000 people have been infected worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Border security

What is the Global Market Forecast for Border Control Technologies?

Border threats have been creating various challenges, met by innovative control technologies. New systems deliver high security and fast passenger processing times in border crossings and airports. The demand for biometrically-enhanced authentication and identity management for border control is growing at a rapid pace, with biometric border control expanding far beyond e-gates. A recent ABI Research report – Biometrics in Border Control – evaluates that biometric kiosks, e-gates, surveillance cameras and fingerprint, iris and face recognition for border control will reach an estimated global revenue of $3.5 billion by 2025. 

Border control agencies have introduced a number of hardware devices in their daily operations such as handhelds, and biometric device add-ons for immigration ID and authentication, access control and workforce management, which are expected to generate revenue of $1.6 billion by 2025.

One of the intriguing insights of the report is that smartphone biometric e-passport reader apps has the potential to transform the future market.

Government and law enforcement agencies leverage biometric technology and services to share information and collaborate at international level to boost security and surveillance, and improve operations related to counter-terrorism at land, air and sea border. 

Border security

Boris Johnson promised frictionless trade after Brexit but now his government admits new border checks are 'inevitable'

When Boris Johnson campaigned for Britain to leave the EU he promised voters that frictionless trade with Europe would continue after Brexit. Now Britain has left the EU, however, a senior member of his government has admitted for the first time that new border checks will be "inevitable."Speaking to businesses on Monday, Michael Gove, the de facto deputy prime minister tipped to lead trade negotiations with the EU, said: "You have to accept we will need some friction. We will minimise it but it is an inevitability of our departure.""I don't underestimate the fact that this is a significant change, but we have time now to make that change," he told delegates for businesses who trade with Europe at a Cabinet Office meeting, according to a Guardian report.

Border security

Johnson to impose full customs checks on goods from EU – report

Boris Johnson intends to impose full customs checks on all goods coming into the UK from the EU in a break with previous government policy, according to reports.

“We are planning full checks on all EU imports – export declarations, security declarations, animal health checks and all supermarket goods to pass through border inspection posts,” the Daily Telegraph reported a senior Whitehall source as saying. “This will double the practical challenge at the border in January 2021.”

The paper reports that businesses will be informed of the policy on 10 February.

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This would be a complete departure from Theresa May’s policy. Last year in its no-deal planning, the government said it would waive customs checks and tariffs on 87% of the goods coming into the country and only impose limited checks on goods.

Border security

Longest-ever border smuggling tunnel found stretching between Tijuana and San Diego, officials say

U.S. authorities discovered the longest smuggling tunnel ever found along the southwest border.

The tunnel originates in Tijuana, Mexico, near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and extends a total of 4,309 feet long -- more than three-quarters of a mile. The next longest tunnel in the U.S., discovered in San Diego in 2014, was 2,966 feet long.

"While subterranean tunnels are not a new occurrence along the California-Mexico border, the sophistication and length of this particular tunnel demonstrates the time-consuming efforts transnational criminal organizations will undertake to facilitate cross-border smuggling,” Cardell Morant, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Diego, said in a press release. The investigation that led to the discovery spanned many years and involved various agencies.

Border security

At helm of DHS, Chad Wolf vows to confront the gangs behind illegal drugs, guns and migrants

 Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, in an exclusive interview with Fox News while touring the border just days after taking the helm at DHS, detailed what he described as an urgent and “exciting” plan to go after the gangs fueling the flow of illegal migrants, weapons and drugs across the southern border.

"The TCOs and cartels, they control the southern side of the border — they have to be paid, they have to be compensated for any of these large flows coming across the border,” he told Fox News. “You eliminate that and you eliminate their ability to recruit in Central America and bring these folks up.”

"TCO" refers to transnational criminal organizations, a term covering both the murderous drug-running cartels that have plagued Mexico as well as other gangs responsible for smuggling operations at the border. The Trump administration has prioritized going after these organizations, last year labeling groups ranging from MS-13 to the Sinaloa Cartel as top TCO threats.

Border security

Smugglers cut a truck-sized hole to drive 16 through US-Mexico border wall, feds say

Sixteen people were arrested Wednesday in what federal officials described as a “brazen” smuggling attempt that involved cutting a section of the border wall in Southern California.

A white Dodge utility truck drove across the United States-Mexico border around 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday after human smugglers cut a hole in the “old landing mat border wall” near Campo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said in a news release on Thursday.

Then, around 4 p.m., agents spotted a man with a truck that matched that description using bolt cutters to cut a lock on a local’s private gate, according to federal officials.

“Agents activated their emergency lights and siren to stop the suspect vehicle, but the driver refused to yield and fled,” border agents said.

Agents chased the truck and it eventually stopped, with the driver and passengers fleeing — but all 16 ultimately were tracked down and arrested, border agents said.

Border security

Arms companies 'rake in billions' as Europe builds new walls

As Europe gears up for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the construction of new barriers to keep out migrants and refugees are netting billions of dollars for major corporations in the region, a new report has found.

European Union member states have spent at least 900 million euros ($1.08bn) on land borders since the end of the Cold War, according to the study coauthored by the Transnational Institute, Centre Dels and Dutch campaign group Stop Wapenhandel (Stop the Arms Trade).

The Iron Curtain may be a distant memory, but since the 1990s European states have constructed walls measuring 1,000km (621 miles), and conducted naval operations that cover a further 4,500km (2,796 miles) all while dispensing massive contracts to some of the world's biggest arms companies.

Border security

Smugglers are using commercial power tools to get through Trump's border wall

A household tool is making it easier for drug cartels to breach President Donald Trump's border wall and illegally enter the United States.

The smugglers often use a reciprocating saw, a popular cordless power tool that can be purchased at retail hardware outlets for as little as $100, according to The Washington Post. If specialized blades are attached to it, reciprocating saws are capable of cutting all the way through the steel-and-concrete bollards that comprise the border wall in minutes. After that, the smugglers can push the detached section of the barrier out of the way and create a gap large enough for one adult to get through.

At the border wall section in the San Diego area, some smugglers have found ways of returning the detached bollards to their original positions so that they can be reused. Border patrol agents have addressed this by learning how to spot visual signs that a bollard has been breached, although some smugglers have found tricks to attempt to conceal those signs and thereby trick the border patrol agents. This practice is a reason why the number of people who can illegally cross the southern border has not been completely eliminated, although it has diminished.

Border security

Forget Syria. What Is The U.S. Doing About The Failed State On Its Southern Border?

How would one categorize a nation-state whose army gives a drug baron’s son to cartel members after suffering brutal losses in pitched battles? The country whose firebrand leftist president apologized on television and said the army’s surrender to a drug cartel was the correct thing to do, because “we do not want war”?

If the reports are correct, this is precisely what happened in Mexico, around the same time the Democratic presidential primary field was debating whether there should be more trillion-dollar expenditures in the U.S. budget. Instead, a failed state on the southern border of the United States should ring alarm bells in the Pentagon.

A map in the BBC showed how Mexico is divided into four cartel zones, similar to warlords in Afghanistan or Libya. A few days back, Mexican National Guards surrounded drug lord El Chapo’s son in a house and after a heavy gunfight forced him to surrender and be arrested.

Then all hell broke loose. Cartel members surrounded the house and forced security to retreat. The army was called in after heavy violence, and even they were fought to a standstill. While there were not many reports of this in American mainstream media, social media was lit with videos of the Mexican military being surrounded by the cartel members.

Border security

Interpol-coordinated maritime border operation detects over 12 suspected foreign terrorist fighters

A maritime border operation coordinated by Interpol has detected more than a dozen suspected "foreign terrorist fighters" (FTFs) travelling across the Mediterranean.

The exercise, Operation Neptune II, took place from July 24 – September 8 and focused on the threat posed by suspected FTFs potentially using maritime routes between North Africa and Southern Europe during the busy summer tourist season, the organisation said.

Officials at seven seaports in Algeria, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia carried out more than 1.2 million searches across Interpol’s databases, looking for stolen and lost travel documents and stolen vehicles, among other things.

They resulted in 31 active investigative leads, with over 12 of them linked to the movement of terror suspects.

Border security

Pentagon is planning a military border mission for the 'next couple years'

The Defense Department is working on a plan now with the Department of Homeland Security that could keep troops at the U.S.-Mexico border for the “next couple years,” a top Pentagon official told Senate lawmakers Wednesday.

Based on Homeland Security’s ability to manage the increasing number of migrants crossing the southern border, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel that the two departments want to create “a comprehensive plan for the next couple years.”

“Although the commitment to the border hasn’t impacted preparedness for other missions at this point, what we want to do is get into a more predictable mode of the requirements the Department of Homeland Security has and do better at integrating across the government,” Dunford said during the Senate hearing.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the committee’s chairman, opened his questioning during the hearing on the Pentagon’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2020 by asking Dunford and acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan for an update on border operations and how much support the Defense Department could provide “without negatively affecting” other missions.

Shanahan outlined the two main areas of DoD support at the border: the 4,364 servicemembers – made of active-duty troops and National Guard members – providing support to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the building of a border wall overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Border security

Illegal-alien Smugglers Used Drone to Watch Border Patrol, 1,800 Illegals Nailed in El Paso Sector in One Day

Illegal-alien smugglers are using a new counter-intelligence tool to help sneak illegals across the border.

Drones, the Customs and Border Protection reports, are now a weapon to help illegals enter the United States.

If that weren’t enough, on Tuesday, border agents collared 1,800 illegals, and apprehensions in the El Paso sector of the border, CBP reported, have increased by six times from last year.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have charged an “Illinois man” with operating a major illegal-alien smuggling operation.

A CBP agent discovered the high-tech aerial surveillance on Tuesday.

The agent was watching the border with an infrared camera when he “observed a small airborne object” heading north into the United States. It traveled 100 yards into the country, CPB reported, then returned to Mexico.

The agent saw the drone cross into the United States three times. After it crossed back to Mexico the third time, 10 illegals crossed the border in the same area where the drone flew. CBP caught the 10.

“This is the first known time in recent history that a drone has been utilized as a ‘look-out’ in order to aid in illegal entries in the El Paso Sector,” CBP said.

Border security

Protecting the borders is now a military mission

The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Robert Neller, grabbed some headlines when he declared his service is facing "rapidly accelerating risks" from, among other things, operations along the Southwest border.

To be fair, General Neller’s concern was one of many he communicated to the Secretary of the Navy and they are all legitimate concerns, but why his discomfort with the Southwest border mission? Does the other land force, the Army, think the same?

General Neller’s concern about the Southwest border mission may be rooted in the expeditionary mission of the Marine Corps which has typically deployed overseas as part of the naval forces. “Marine Corps Operations”, which describes the roles of the Marine Corps expeditionary forces, doesn’t mention U.S. borders or defending the homeland, though it does explain that an attribute of successful foreign counterinsurgency operations is “Securing host nation borders.”

Border security

Trump Prepared to Hurt the Economy: “Security is More Important Than Trade"

The New York Times reports Trump Vows to Close Border, Even if It Hurts the Economy.

President Trump acknowledged Tuesday that closing the southern border with Mexico could damage the United States economy, but said protecting America’s security was more important than trade.

In remarks from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump reiterated his threat to shut the border if Mexico, America’s third largest trading partner, cannot restrict a flow of asylum seekers trying to cross into the United States. But the president’s economic team, concerned about the damage from such a move, said it was looking for ways to limit the fallout if Mr. Trump does do so.

“Sure, it’s going to have a negative impact on the economy,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “but security is most important.”

“Security is more important to me than trade,” he said.

Border security

EU Officials Move To Clarify Rules For U.S. Travelers After Erroneous 'Visa' Reports

European Union officials have moved to clarify travel regulations for U.S. citizens, following erroneous reports this week that Americans will soon be required to apply for visas.

Last summer, the European Union announced that starting in 2021, it will require citizens from countries that don't currently require visas, including the United States, to apply for authorization in order to visit member states. The process will occur through the European Travel Information and Authorization System, an automated online system meant to strengthen security checks on visitors.

An application will cost about $8, and it will "not take more than 10 minutes," according to the European Commission. Responses will be cross-checked by Interpol and other security databases, and prospective travelers will receive an emailed approval or rejection in as little as a few minutes or as long as four weeks.

Confusion around the rules was caused after some media outlets, including NPR, reported that U.S. travelers will soon need a visa to reach Europe. Some of those reports cited the travel agency ETIASVisa.com, which says on its website that Americans will need to obtain "the Europe visa."

Border security

Fiber-Optics – Best Border Security Solution?

Contrary to popular belief, satellites carry less than 1% of human communications. Fiber-optic cables, stretching across the sea floor, buried under cities, and connected to people’s homes, carry the rest. While they’re mostly used to transmit telecommunications, they can also detect motion.

While the US federal government continues to pursue its strategy of building a physical barrier, a border wall, for enhancing its border security, various technological solutions may be more promising.

A fiber-optic technology that could pinpoint with precision where border intrusions occur, determine what exactly is coming across, and relay the information to Border Patrol agents in realtime, was recently mentioned by Will Hurd, a Texas Republican congressman. He teamed up with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in July 2017 to introduce the Secure Miles with All Resources and Technology (SMART) Act, which would have tasked the Department of Homeland Security with deploying high-tech systems like radar, LIDAR, fiber optics, drones, and cameras along the border. However, the bill stalled in committee and never moved forward.

Experts and industry leaders told businessinsider.com that fiber-optic technology is already advanced enough to work across most of the US-Mexico border, nearly 10 times less expensive than a wall, and is ready to be deployed immediately.

Border security

Russia working on AI-operated border security system

The Roselectronics holding company (part of Rostec) is developing AI-operated decision-making systems to guard Russia’s land borders, head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov told TASS.

"The Rostec associated Roselectronics is in the process of creating decision-making intelligent systems for protecting Russia’s land borders," he said.

He revealed that these systems collect ground, maritime and air data, estimate the situation in guarded zones and help to plan the functions of border control agencies and address operation tasks.

In March 2016, TASS reported that Rostec was working on an AI-operated system for guarding zones of critical importance. The system includes a group of air and ground robots, which can operate independently, constantly monitor large swathes of land, and promptly inform security agencies of any situation changes.

The system can unremittingly exercise control over territories of up to a few hundred hectares in distance. It can independently determine the coordinates of any perpetrator, identify and trace various objects, and send robots for detailed monitoring of a situation. In April 2016, it was reported that the system is being developed with the help of the Forpost all-round surveillance radiolocation system and the Polet-1 electro-optical module that can home in on a moving target as far as 20 km away. UAVs were also supposed to be included in the system.

Border security

Cutting-Edge Screening Technology in Checkpoints

Ever increasing threats urge companies to improve security technology in sensitive locations such as airports.
Through the combination of innovative hardware and software technologies a new screening machine offers best-in-class image quality and detection capabilities.
A new technology is developed to help operators identify and mitigate threats more rapidly and more accurately by offering best-in-class image quality and material discrimination, providing customers with significant improvements to overall screening and performance.
The device is called ORION, produced by Rapiscan Systems, a global provider of security inspection technologies. The company has created the new ORION Baggage and Parcel Inspection (BPI) product suite, according to americansecuritytoday.com.
The new, high-performance ORION series product line has three new checkpoint screening solutions – the 918CX, 920CX, and 922CX. It is already available with additional models planned for the future.
This new product launch serves as the first of a number of new offerings, which will leverage innovations in imaging such as detectors and generators and deep learning algorithms.
The system’s architecture allows for an upgrade path which enables future implementation of new imaging components across multiple platforms and a wide range of tunnel sizes.
Built to seamlessly blend into its surroundings, the ORION series boasts high performing detection and a sleek, modern finish.