WEBVTT

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>> My name is Amy Cloud.
I'm the CBP Attaché in Bogota, Colombia.

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Bogota is a beautiful city
surrounded by mountains,

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and when I have visitors, I have the opportunity
to take them to places like Monserrate,

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where they can see
a beautiful view of the city,

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to the Plaza Bolivar,
where we're standing right now,

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the historic heart
of the city.

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And also to visit
the various restaurants,

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museums and other cultural activities
that the city has to offer.

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I arrived in Colombia as the very
first CBP attaché here.

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It took a little while
to get the office stood up

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and get an assistant hired,
figure out the budget,

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figure out the processes
within the embassy.

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I definitely had support
from CBP Headquarters,

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but there's a lot that has to be
done in-country in order

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to make an office run.

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From there, it was actually
very easy meeting

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with Colombian Migration,

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Colombian Customs
with the private sector,

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because CBP has so much
to offer those entities

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in terms of information
sharing.

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>> You know, we didn't have
a CBP unit here,

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so when we got Amy Cloud
who came down to be the attaché,

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I was really enthusiastic
about having somebody to work

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on critical issues
with the Colombian government,

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including special interest aliens,

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and moving forward on these high
priority activities like pre-clearance.

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Global Entry is
a passion of mine.

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I really wanted to get
Global Entry started here.

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And Amy has been able
to socialize

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that more among the Colombians
who might be eligible for it,

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might be interested in it,
because it's good for U.S. business,

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it's actually good for our
Colombian counterparts as well.

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>> A typical day
as a CBP attaché can include meeting

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with my embassy counterparts on projects
that we're working on together,

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contacting my Colombian
government counterparts

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on programs
of mutual interest,

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checking in to see where we are,
answering phone calls from the public

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or emails with inquiries
about travel processes in the U.S.,

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and of course being in touch
with CBP Headquarters

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to let them know the status
of all our projects.

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>> Amy Cloud is providing
us real-time information from Bogota

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that we wouldn't
be able to get

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unless we traveled
to Colombia ourselves.

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So every day, she's talking
to our counterparts

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in the government, law enforcement,
and feeding us that information

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so that we can better
form our strategy

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for the placement of personnel
for the Immigration Advisory Program,

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pre-clearance and other
CBP mission programs.

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>> CBP is interested in working
with the Colombian government

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in two main ways,
here in Bogota at the airport.

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One is through
pre-clearance expansion;

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Bogota was selected as a finalist
for pre-clearance.

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And so we are meeting regularly

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with the Colombian government
and airport authorities

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in order to implement
that program.

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Additionally, ever since we signed
a passenger information

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sharing agreement,

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CBP has been sending experts
who can help work

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with the Colombian agencies
at the airport

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to improve
their targeting practices.

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This is done through training,
sharing of best practices,

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and on-the-job observation.

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>> The importance of having
this relation with Amy and CBP

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is that we have had
the opportunity

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to get access to
the National Targeting Center,

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and to other officers
of the U.S. government

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that will help us construct
and build a better relation,

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not only with CBP,
but internally with our Customs process.

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>> You know, one of the things
that I most admire about Amy is,

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she's really a can-do person.
She figures out ways to get things done.

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The critical component in that
is being able to plug

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in directly to
the right parts of DHS,

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which is not immediately
transparent from down here.

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And so being able to navigate
the interagency up

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there has been
critically important.

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I am so grateful for all DHS
does for us down here; not only CBP,

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but HSI -- critical components
of the country team.

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We're just so grateful
that they're here with us here.