see also: in June 2003:   Government of Sri Lanka Joins Container Security Initiative to Begin Targeting and Pre-Screening Cargo Destined for U.S.   Second Italian CSI Port Operational, La Spezia to Begin Targeting and Pre-Screening Cargo Destined for U.S.   Italy Implements the Container Security Initiative and Begins to Target and Pre-Screen Cargo Destined for U.S.   CBP Enforces CDC Embargo to Prevent Spread of Monkeypox Virus   Secretary Ridge Announces Container Security Initiative's Phase II   Kingdom of Thailand Joins Container Security Initiative to Target and Pre-Screen Cargo Destined for U.S. ...more on cbp.gov:   Press Officers   CBP News Releases   Locate a Port Of Entry - Air, Land, or Sea

contacts for this news release

Laredo, TX--Jayson Ahern, Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Lic. Leopoldo Perea Cardenas, Administrador de Aduanas de Nuevo Laredo, and several top railroad officials today dedicated a state-of-the-art rail cargo inspections facility at Laredo, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border. The new facility houses BCBP rail inspection operations, including a gamma-ray imaging system for scanning cargo in rail cars.

	Assistant Commissioner Jayson Ahern (center), Office of Field Operations, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), shakes hands with Lic. Mario Mohar, President and CEO of Tex Mex Railroad.

"This new facility offers the latest in non-intrusive inspections technology and further tightens security against the terrorist threat, while at the same time helping to facilitate movement of legitimate cargo across the U.S.-Mexico border," said Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner.

The $200,000 facility, built by Tex-Mex Railroad on land owned by Union Pacific, houses offices for CBP inspectors and Border Patrol agents, and a $1.3 million gamma-ray imaging system that scans railcars as they cross into the U.S. The new two-story structure replaces an outmoded facility at the border rail crossing dating back to 1908.

Assistant Commissioner Ahern said, "Co-location of CBP inspectors and Border Patrol agents, along with cutting-edge technology, will enhance both efficiency and effectiveness in combating illegal migrant and drug smuggling on trains, as well the smuggling of terrorists and weapons of mass destruction."

Construction of the facility began in September 2002 and was completed in April 2003.

Among the private sector officials in attendance at the grand opening ceremony are: Lic. Mario Mohar, President and CEO, Tex-Mex Railroad; Gerald Davies, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Kansas City Southern Railroad; Gary Davidson, Superintendent, San Antonio Terminal, Union Pacific Railroad and Steve Barkley, Vice President and General Manager, Southern Region, Union Pacific Railroad.