>> Ready. >> Okay, two, three!
>> Yes! >> All right!
>> And the ribbon was cut,
inaugurating the new U.S. Customs
and Border Protection Air
and Marine Operations Aircraft Hangar
and Support Facilities
at the Rafael Hernandez
International Airport in Aguadilla,
Puerto Rico on the 22nd of June, 2016.
>> It's a very important day
here in Aguadilla for Customs
and Border Protection to dedicate this new facility.
It's important economic benefit to this community,
but it's also one that's going to serve this organization, CBP,
well by providing an excellent working facility
for the men and women who fly our helicopters and planes,
and who operate our interceptor boats.
>> The new 30,000 square foot,
$10 million facility
is part of the CBP Caribbean Air
and Marine branch,
and the only federal law enforcement organization
in the Caribbean basin with integrated Air
and Marine interdiction capabilities.
>> So I think nationally,
this area of Puerto Rico
is critical to interdicting
drug flows moving toward the Continental United States,
and also this branch is critical to making that occur,
along with protecting the people of Puerto Rico
from adverse criminal elements
and those who want to cause great destruction on the island itself.
So I think as a service to the American people
and the people also of Puerto Rico,
that his is a great Air and Marine branch,
and also a great facility.
>> The Caribbean Air and Marine branch
has been attacking the drug trafficking organizations
here in the Caribbean for a long time.
We're constantly growing.
More people, more assets, now a new hangar --
we're continuously getting better at what we do,
and we're becoming more effective at
targeting these drug trafficking new organizations.
This is going to allow us to do that better.
>> Five years of planning
and 24 months of construction
saw the completion of the 30,000
square foot ultra-modern hangar facility.
The project was a successful collaboration
amongst the U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
the General Services Administration,
the Puerto Rican Port Authority
and the Federal Aviation Administration.
>> This is a secure facility.
The hangar is state of the art,
with all new technologies;
IT, wireless -- everything we need here,
we've captured them all here.
The building is rated for levels of hurricane
that they do see here in the Caribbean.
If another disaster were to occur here,
this building will fill up with foam,
which is something new we have tested here.
>> So I was hired here,
and my initial hire was to Puerto Rico,
the Caribbean Air branch, in 1997.
Back then the facilities were very spartan, trailers
for offices. Actually, the admin building was across the street,
so they used to joke that the most dangerous part of the job
was coming to fly
and crossing the street at rush hour.
So now the facility's all on one side of the street; a lot safer there.
But beautiful new facility
that aircraft can be housed inside.
The admin spaces are all up to date
and state of the art.
The maintainers can work on the aircraft
inside the hangar, which is huge.
The weather won't affect the airplanes
since they're inside, nor will the salt spray,
which will parley into operations being
a lot more robust and a lot more consistent.
So the crews have a better airplane to fly
because it's maintained better,
and the operators have a lot better picture
to go out and fly on when they do fly.
>> Here in the Caribbean, in particular in Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands --
we're islands.
We have a tread that is 360 degrees.
Basically we have open waters around the island.
We need to understand that we are very close to countries
that pose a threat to the nation.
And if we're not capable of deploying our resources
in a timely and effective way,
we would not be able to be able to combat
those threats and protect our borders.
Having this new facility here,
what it gives us is better tools and equipment
to be able to do that mission in the most effective way,
and be able to protect the borders of our nation.
>> The coordination with Air Marine and Border
Patrol as part of the Caribbean inter-agency group,
it's pretty much seamless;
it's something that is day-to-day,
and support from one side to the other.
It's something that's really really important for the Border
Patrol and the border security mission.
>> We have to protect our children.
If we protect our children,
we're going to have much more better adults.
And that's what we're looking for.
If we give the good way to life to our children,
then they won't turn into drug dealers.
They won't turn into thieves. So that's what we're looking for.
Protection, education, and that's all --
we're very happy that this happened.