U.S. to Present Friendlier Face at Border, Customs Agency Says
Initiative gives border inspectors more discretion to admit travelers
A new U.S. initiative aims to make Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers more courteous and gives them more discretion to admit visitors who in the past have committed minor violations of U.S. immigration law, the head of the CBP agency says.
The initiative is designed to ensure the "highest degree of professionalism and courtesy" at U.S. ports of entry, Commissioner Robert Bonner said in an August 26 news release.
Briefing reporters on the same day, he said his agency has established a code of conduct for CBP officers and has decided to display at all ports of entry the agency's "Pledge to Travelers," which includes commitments to treat travelers with courtesy, dignity, and respect, and to accept and respond to travelers' comments.
In addition, Bonner said CBP will place representatives at airports receiving international flights to help resolve admission problems.
Bonner said the initiative is an effort to impose high professional standards on the CBP workforce, which only recently has been fully integrated into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). But he added that several recent instances of CBP officers' rude behavior prompted him to act.
CBP is a merger of U.S. customs, immigration and agriculture inspectors as well as border patrol agents into DHS.
Bonner said that, as part of the initiative, CBP will give its officers more discretion to admit to the United States visitors who have committed a technical or inadvertent immigration violation, but pose no terrorist threat.
He said that after the DHS had been created CBP officers detained and, in some instances, deported foreign travelers who previously overstayed their visas or committed other minor immigration infractions.
The CBP commissioner emphasized, however, that the agency's officials must stay within the law when exercising their discretion, and that they will have more discretion to deny entry to those deemed to pose a terrorist or criminal risk or to be economic migrants.
"Every other day we deny entry to someone who poses a terrorist risk," he said.
Bonner said he believes that CBP officers can carry out their primary mission of preventing terrorist and terrorist weapons from entering the country while being professional and courteous toward legal travelers.
On another issue, Bonner expressed doubts about a survey that indicates a high level of employee dissatisfaction and low morale at CBP. The survey conducted on behalf of trade unions representing border patrol agents and other CBP officers found that their members believe they are not getting the proper tools, training or support to stop terrorists from entering the United States and that morale at the agency "plummeted precipitously."
Bonner said he is still reading the survey's results but added he believes it may be biased and not representative of the entire CBP workforce. He said he personally visits CBP offices around the country and does not get a sense that employee morale is low. He said the lowest attrition rates among Border Patrol agents in years would indicate the opposite.
