South Texas Ports of Entry Post Significant Increases
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
LAREDO (News Release) – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at eight South Texas ports of entry seized a number of narcotics, unreported currency, weapons and uncovered numerous immigration violations during Fiscal Year 2022, most notably a 177 percent increase in inadmissibles encountered and a 19 percent increase in cocaine seized. Fiscal Year 2022 began October 1, 2021 and ended Sept. 30, 2022.
“As nonessential traffic resumed early in Fiscal Year 2022, overall workload volumes returned to normal, but CBP officers continued to experience the ongoing trend of hard narcotics, particularly cocaine and significant gains in encounters of individuals without valid entry documents,” said (Acting) Director, Field Operations Eugene Crawford, Laredo Field Office. “The hard narcotics volume underscores the seriousness of the drug threat we face, and hemispheric economic and security challenges also tend to drive the migration volumes.”
During FY 2022, CBP officers at the eight ports of entry extending from Brownsville to Del Rio that comprise the Laredo Field Office seized 47,755 pounds of narcotics that would have commanded a combined estimated street value of $436 million. Specifically, they seized 6,578 pounds of marijuana; 10,243 pounds of cocaine, up 19 percent from FY 21; nearly 30,476 pounds of methamphetamine; 176 pounds of heroin, nearly 282 pounds of fentanyl, $5.8 million in unreported currency, 320 weapons and 78,487 rounds of ammunition.
CBP officers at Laredo Field Office ports of entry in FY 2022 also determined that more than 57,732 non-U.S. citizens were inadmissible to the U.S. due to violations of immigration law, up 177 percent over FY 21.
CBP agriculture specialists intercepted 99,264 items of quarantine animal and plant material and 5,015 pests.
