see also: in September 2007 News Releases:   CBP Seizes $2.5 Million Worth of Marijuana Inside Cargo Load at Texas Entry   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Achieves Container Security Initiative Milestone with 58 Operational Ports   CBP Agriculture Team Intercepts Narcotic Plant at Newark Airport   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Collects More Than $2.2 Million in Underpaid Antidumping Duty on Chinese Shrimp   Kiosks for Frequent International Fliers Now Available At Edmonton Airport   Port of Alexandria, Egypt Participates in the CBP Container Security Initiative   Ports of Colon and Manzanillo, Panama Begin Container Security Initiative Operations ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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San Diego - Gurdit Dhillon, who began his federal law enforcement career over 35 years ago as an inspector at the Calexico border station, has been selected as U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) new field operations director in San Diego, the agency announced today.

Dhillon succeeds Adele Fasano, who this month assumed duties as area director for the New York/ Newark ports of entry.

Prior to this assignment, Dhillon served almost two years as director of field operations at the CBP Detroit field office, responsible for processing more commercial traffic than any other CBP field office along the U.S./Canada border.

Dhillon, who began his new duties late last month, will provide management oversight for all passenger and cargo operations at the busy land border ports of entry on the California/Mexico border.

The San Diego field office manages the work of over 1,300 front-line federal officers at border stations in San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Tecate, Calexico, and Andrade as well as the federal inspection stations at the San Diego seaport and international airports. The ports performed over 83 million inspections of people, seized almost 213,000 pounds of illegal narcotics and apprehended over 67,000 immigration violators during the last fiscal year.

While mindful of the agency’s important border security mission, Dhillon will continue to support operations that have proved successful for the field office while striking a working balance between facilitation of trade and travelers and the need for strong enforcement.

Dhillon, a native of El Centro, Calif., began his CBP career as a former Customs Service inspector at the Calexico port of entry in 1971. From 1983 through 1987, he held three important port director positions: Calexico, San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, respectively.

Dhillon also served as the local Customs Service assistant director and acting director before he left the San Diego area in 1994 to assume duties as the field operations director in El Paso, Texas.

In 2001, Dhillon was named as the field director in Laredo, Texas, responsible for several border facilities including the busiest commercial cargo port of entry on the Southwest border. He was selected for the Detroit assignment in 2005.

Dhillon holds a bachelor’s degree from the California Polytechnic Institute and has served as an officer in the U.S. Army National Guard.

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 the 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.