Warroad, Minn. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is announcing the opening of a new port of entry at Warroad, Minnesota. The port will be open to all traffic on Tuesday February 23, at 9 p.m. The new facility is located a half mile south of the current port of entry on Minnesota State highway 313.
The construction of this new facility began in May 2008 and will provide increased efficiency for cross border traffic and trade. The new port is equipped with two high low booths that can process passenger vehicles or commercial trucks for increased traffic flow and it is equipped with two commercial truck docks and two enclosed passenger vehicle bays for detailed inspections.
Additional improvements include state-of-the-art communications, enhanced security, an indoor firearms range and radiation portal monitors (RPM), all critical to CBP's mission to guard the Nation's borders and protect the American homeland.
"Border security has changed and our Port of Entry operations have been transformed accordingly. When the current facility opened in 1962, traffic and staffing was only a fraction of what it is today. Increased security requirements, staff, and traffic have brought a need for more space to operate our 24-hour operation. This new facility will allow Customs and Border Protection to better secure this border crossing and will provide better service to the traveling public. It's going to offer our officers a much more secure environment in which to conduct inspections in a more efficient and professional manner" said Warroad Port Director Brian King.
RPMs are a safe, passive, non-intrusive means to screen trucks, cargo, passenger vehicles, and other conveyances for the radiation emanating from nuclear devices, dirty bombs, special nuclear materials, natural sources, and isotopes commonly used in medicine and industry.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.