Customs and Border Protection

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3K+ Guitars Part of 'Massive Attempt to Con' US Consumers

They may have looked like real Gibsons worth $18M, but authorities say they're phonies

(Newser) - If they'd been actual Gibson guitars, the 3,000-plus musical instruments seized recently in California would've been worth around $18 million. They were phonies, however, and their interception at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport is now what the Los Angeles Times is calling "the largest counterfeit musical...

Somehow, These Fake 'Melons' Failed to Fool Border Agents

Meth, wrapped in plastic and painted to deceive, was intercepted at border

(Newser) - The thing is, it probably took a lot of time to paint the drug packages to look like watermelons. But the results were, let's say, not that great. As a result, US border agents intercepted more than $5 million worth of methamphetamine at the US-Mexico border, reports the BBC...

Days After Arrest, Flyer Is Busted at Same Airport

CBP says he tried to smuggle ketamine into, and out of, the US

(Newser) - A man who was arrested for trying to smuggle ketamine into the US from Europe through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was arrested again in the same week for trying to smuggle the drug in the other direction, US Customs and Border Protection says. In a news release , the agency says the...

Along the Border, an 'Unexpected Reprieve' for Biden

Illegal migrant crossings have plummeted 54% since December, per government figures

(Newser) - News along the southern border is offering the Biden administration "an unexpected reprieve" as the November election looms. Internal government stats show that illegal migration from Mexico into the US has fallen 54% from December to May, with US Border Patrol officials recording a daily average of 3,700...

2 Texas Railway Crossings Closed Due to Migrant Surge

CBP employees will be moved from those crossings to help Border Patrol elsewhere

(Newser) - Freight trains stopped rumbling across Texas border bridges in El Paso and Eagle Pass Monday morning, a day after US Customs and Border Protection said it would put such crossings on ice in order to move staffers there to assist with the migrant surge elsewhere. The El Paso Times reports...

New US Strategy Focuses on Fentanyl Supply Chain

Postal Service, carriers will help monitor chemicals, presses used to make pills

(Newser) - As overdose deaths continue at a record pace, US Customs and Border Protection announced a new government-wide strategy Thursday involving scores of agencies that will target the precursor materials used by traffickers to make fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. Under the plan, CBP will work with the Postal Service and...

Border Officials Spot This Bug for the First Time

Insect 'corimelaena palmeri' was in a shipment of flowers from Mexico

(Newser) - US border officials intercepted an unwanted visitor at the border—a bug never before seen in this country. Customs inspectors spotted the insect corimelaena palmeri in a shipment of cut flowers from Mexico, reports CNN . A news release from US Customs and Border Protection says inspectors at the Otay Mesa...

Feds Say Cross-Border Egg-Smuggling Has Soared

'My advice is, don’t bring them over,' CBP official says

(Newser) - Eggs are much cheaper in Mexico but anybody caught trying to bring them across the border could have to shell out a lot of money, officials say. American egg prices were up 60% year-on-year in December due to factors including avian flu, making Mexican eggs an appealing prospect for residents...

Hidden Cocaine Hindered Wheelchair: Agents

JFK passenger's wheels weren't turning, agency says

(Newser) - Something seemed to be keeping the wheels on an arriving passenger's wheelchair from turning, Customs agents noticed at Kennedy Airport in New York. So they X-rayed the wheelchair and reported they found the problem: 28 pounds of cocaine stuffed into the wheels, ABC7 reports. The stash has a street...

50 Wheels of Undeclared Cheese Cost NM Woman

She was fined $1K after trying to enter Texas from Mexico

(Newser) - Officers with Customs and Border Protection say they stopped a woman hiding contraband under a blanket in her SUV as she tried to cross the Texas border from Mexico earlier this month. But it wasn't drugs, or even weapons—though it may have been sharp: It was 50 wheels...

All These Snakes Were Under and in a Man's Clothes

30-year-old US citizen was arrested at the California-Mexico border

(Newser) - A man who tried to slither past US border agents in California had 52 lizards and snakes hidden in his clothing, authorities said Tuesday. The man was driving a truck when he arrived at the San Ysidro border crossing with Mexico on Feb. 25 and was pulled out for additional...

Anti-Terrorism Database Was Used Against Journalists

Federal watchdog finds unit called up records of congressional staff members, as well

(Newser) - A special Customs and Border Protection unit used sensitive government databases intended to track terrorists to investigate as many as 20 US-based journalists, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning AP reporter, according to a federal watchdog. Yahoo News, which published an extensive report on the investigation, also found that the unit, the...

After Outcry, Photographer Says He Saw No Violence

Biden joins outcry at mounted agents' conduct, promising consequences

(Newser) - The people who have responded with horror to images of Border Patrol agents on horseback appearing to corral Haitian immigrants at the Rio Grande include the US president and vice president. Some of the photos seem to show agents using whips, KTSM reports. But that's not quite what the...

White House Calls Apparent Use of Whips at Border 'Horrific'

Border Patrol says matter is being looked into

(Newser) - White House press secretary Jen Psaki says that images of federal agents apparently using whips on Haitian migrants at the border are "obviously horrific" and that the administration is trying to learn more about what happened. "I don't have the full context. I can't imagine what...

'One of Most Damaging Snails' Seized at Houston Airport

Passenger had 15 live giant land snails

(Newser) - Some 15 snails that can grow to be the size of small dogs were seized from a passenger's luggage in Houston earlier this month, officials say. The banana rasp snails, also known as giant land snails, were found in the luggage of a passenger traveling from Nigeria, CBS reports....

ICE Deportations Hit Lowest Point on Record

Biden administration emphasizes catching criminals

(Newser) - Although illegal crossings into the US are still at elevated levels, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported fewer people in April than in any month on record. According to preliminary figures, 2,962 immigrants were deported last month, a 20% drop from March. It was the first time the monthly total...

More Than 3K Migrant Kids Crowded Into Texas Facility

Biden administration finally allows journalists into detention facility for children

(Newser) - The Biden administration for the first time Tuesday allowed journalists inside its main border detention facility for migrant children, revealing a severely overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 people, including children and families, were crammed into a space intended for 250 and the youngest were kept in a...

Mom Tries to Cross Rio Grande With Kids, 9-Year-Old Dies

BP agents were able to resuscitate migrant mother, 3-year-old, but girl didn't regain consciousness

(Newser) - Tragedy has struck a mother from Guatemala trying to make her way into the US with her two children, both Mexican nationals. Newsweek reports that on March 20, US Border Patrol agents received a rescue call after bystanders saw three people stranded on an island on the Mexican side of...

Border Officials: Let's Use That 'Heat Ray' on Migrants

Back in 2018, Kirstjen Nielsen nixed it right away

(Newser) - Right before the 2018 midterms, a Homeland Security meeting gave birth to an extreme idea: zapping border migrants with a "heat ray" to make them feel like their skin was burning, former officials tell the New York Times . Customs and Border Protection officials apparently suggested it to Homeland Security...

Portland Mayor to Trump: Send Your Boys Home
Portland Mayor to Trump:
This Is 'an Absolute Abuse'
the rundown
Jul 18, 2020 11:00 AM CDT

Portland Mayor to Trump: This Is 'an Absolute Abuse'

Words are flying after federal agents scooped up protesters in Oregon

(Newser) - Portland's mayor threw down the gauntlet Friday after federal agents—some wearing camouflage in unmarked minivans—were seen grabbing people off the streets, the AP reports. "Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city," Mayor Ted Wheeler said at a press conference...

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