see also: in January 2004:   Lost Migrant Found Alive by BORSTAR, Deming Border Patrol Agents   Homeland Security Officers to March in Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade   CBP Border Patrol Agents Seize Large Cache of Marijuana   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Seizes 2.2 Million lbs of Illegal Drugs; $51 Million in Currency FY 2003   Preventing Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases: More Than 1.7 Million Prohibited Agricultural Items Intercepted Last Year   $24 Billion in Federal Revenue Collected by Customs and Border Protection ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

contacts for this news release

Washington, D.C. -- Fiscal year 2003 statistics released today by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert C. Bonner showed that CBP officers arrested and detained over one million people seeking to illegally enter the United States. The figures include 17,618 criminal aliens and 483 who were detained for national security reasons.

Commissioner Bonner stated, "In order for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to carry out our priority mission, to keep terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering this country, we must do everything within our power to secure our nation's borders. The sheer volume of arrests and detentions illustrates how, every day, CBP officers are carrying out their mission to secure our borders and guard our country. The unification of Customs, Immigration and Agriculture inspectors with the Border Patrol into a workforce of 42,000 people has brought an unprecedented transformation in the way people and goods arriving at American ports of entry are processed. With additional resources, and improved technology, America's borders are safer and more secure than when border responsibilities were fragmented among different agencies. CBP has moved aggressively to secure the flow of legitimate travelers and trade into our country, and the staggering amount of apprehensions and detentions prove it."

Statistics for FY 03

U.S. citizens examined - 159,162,142

• Aliens inspected - 264,120,740
• Total inadmissible aliens - 680,203
• Aliens refused entry or withdrew - 397,788
• Aliens expeditiously removed - 51,274
• Aliens referred to the Immigration Judge for federal removal proceedings - 7,190
• Fraudulent documents intercepted - 72,398
• False claims to U.S. citizenship - 13,636
• Lookout intercepts - 315,196
• Stowaway apprehensions - 584
• Criminal aliens intercepted - 17,618
• Terrorists/Security violators - 483
• Border Patrol apprehensions - 931,557

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security that unifies Customs, Immigration and Agriculture Inspectors and U.S. Border Patrol Agents.