News / More staff and better tech 'the only way' to improve US border security

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US plans to reduce the de minimis threshold and exclude some countries of origin will not improve the country’s border security; more staff and better data is the only way to handle the enormous volumes of small parcels coming into US, a former CBP officer has said. 

Todd Owen, former executive assistant commissioner for field operations, told delegates at the Peterson Institute that new de minimis regulation was not the way forward. 

“When we look at the different legislation that’s out there, will adjusting the threshold, will eliminating certain countries of origin from the calculation, will that help secure the border any better? I will tell you that that action alone is doubtful to have a positive impact on border security. 

 “And the reason for that is that these four million parcels are not going to stop coming. Whether they’re entered and cleared as a de minimis shipment, or an informal shipment, or a formal shipment, they’re still coming. 

“Drug smugglers, big surprise, don’t accurately tell you what’s in the shipment, and they don’t care about the value. So they don’t care whether the de minimis is $200 or $800, they are playing in volumes.” 

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to add an additional 10% tariff on China and 25% on all products coming in from Mexico and Canada, “until such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country”.

However, said Mr Owen, fentanyl’s supply chain has changed; the drug no longer comes in via courier hubs. Some 96% of it comes in via Arizona and southern California.  

“When you look at the 278,000 pounds of fentanyl CBP seized last year, 90% was seized along the southern border. So those 200,000 cars a day that are coming in from Mexico is the pathway now to get your fentanyl into the country. 

“That is a passenger vehicle issue. That is not a de minimis issue. If you want to address the fentanyl threat, you need to address the southern border. Again, through inspection technology, personnel, because that’s where your fentanyl threat is coming today.” 

The Biden-Harris administration, meanwhile, has promised to limit the types of products that can be shipped via de minimis. 

Mr Owen explained: “De minimis packages [valued at below $800] are exempt from duty and come in under a less burdensome requirement; less burdensome customs filings that don’t have the fees associated with them. 

“[CBP officers] don’t know that [a package] is going to be filed as a de minimis entry by the carrier, or a type 86 by a customs broker, or an informal or formal entry, they’re looking at the small parcel threat in front of them.   

“And when they’re putting package after package through x-ray systems, when the dogs are running them, the narcotics detection dogs, they’re not skipping over the de minimis packages because they don’t know which ones are de minimis. They’re again looking at that holistic four million parcels a day and what could be the threat within each one of those parcels.” 

Mr Owen, who oversaw 29,000 staff with a budget of $5.2bn, explained: “By law, every cargo shipment that enters the country has to provide advanced electronic manifest data, and has to declare to customs what’s in it, who it’s going to, where it’s coming from and different data points.  

“So whether it’s a 40ft maritime container, a truck, a rail car, air cargo shipment or a de minimis package, those advanced manifest requirements by law, by the Trade Act of 2002, have to be submitted to CBP. CBP takes that advanced information, it bounces it through the automated targeting system, ATS, where we help assign risk to every shipment.” 

“Some of this misconception out there includes that de minimis shipments don’t require any data; that CBP knows nothing about de minimis shipments, not true; that de minimis shipments are not targeted by CBP, not true; that de minimis shipments are not inspected by CBP, not true.” 

Mr Owen said four things needed to happen to tighten security around small packages: accurate advance data; better inspection technology; increased CBP staffing; legislation to support stricter penalties for inaccurate or incomplete data. 

“If you were to look at one of these six international mail facilities, or one of the two dozen express courier hubs where these small parcels come in, the inspection technology that’s being used is archaic. It is two-dimensional x-ray systems where an officer is looking at the computer screen at each box that’s going through and trying to identify an anomaly.” 

He also noted that the CBP is understaffed to the tune of more than 4,800 officers, to check “250,000 cars a day, 100,000 trucks and maritime containers”.