A strong nation requires secure borders, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center is a key part of the border security mission. That was the message President Donald Trump delivered Feb. 2 to the people working at the center in Sterling, Virginia.
Acting Commissioner Kevin
McAleenan briefs President Donald
Trump about illegal immigration and
illicit drug smuggling during an
interagency meeting at CBP’s National
Targeting Center in Sterling, Virginia,
Feb. 2. DHS photo by Jetta Disco
“This is quite a facility,” the President told a group, which included Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, CBP’s Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, CBP officers, Air and Marine and Border Patrol agents, senior officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Departments of Justice and State, as well as members of the press. “These are the men and women [those at the National Targeting Center] that really know what’s happening and know how to keep America safe. They’re real professionals.”
After a tour of the facility, President Trump called for tougher enforcement of immigration laws, in particular, against the drug smugglers the center helps to target. Acting Commissioner McAleenan briefed the President that illegal migration dropped in the first few months shortly after his inauguration, primarily due to the administration’s tougher immigration stance. Fiscal Year 2017 marked a 45-year low in U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions. However, increases in illegal border crossing attempts since then have prompted concern.
“We’ve seen a marked increase in hardened smugglers attempting to bring hard narcotics across our borders and into our communities,” said Acting Commissioner McAleenan. “We’ve had increases in every category: cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and obviously fentanyl, a very significantly potent synthetic opioid involved in so many overdoses in the United States.”
Officers at the border and ports of entry check more than 1 million travelers and $6.5 billion worth of imported products on average every day. The sheer volume of that traffic – ranging from cargo containers to mail and express consignment packages to individuals crossing the border – makes it impossible to inspect every entry. The center uses CBP’s own seizure analysis and intelligence information, along with data gathered from other federal, state and local law enforcement sources, to target travelers and cargo that pose the highest risk to U.S. security, including the threat of terrorism, illegal migration, fake or dangerous goods and illegal drugs. CBP also partners with the U.S. Postal Service and commercial express carriers to target possible contraband coming into the country.
In addition to promoting efforts to address illegal immigration, including funding to build and enhance a border wall, the President repeated his commitment to give those who protect the nation’s borders the tools they need to get the job done.
“We’ve really put a lot behind [the National Targeting Center], and we’re going to be putting a lot more behind it,” added President Trump.
Watch the video from the White House YouTube Channel.