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   $24 Billion in Federal Revenue Collected by Customs and Border Protection   Tight Security, Technology, and Manpower Result in One Million Apprehensions of People Seeking to Illegally Enter the U. S. in 2003 ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

contacts for this news release

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agricultural inspectors and specially trained canines made 1,739,296 interceptions of prohibited plant material, meat/poultry and animal by-products in Fiscal Year 2003, according to statistics released today by CBP Commissioner Robert C. Bonner. CBP made more than 69,000 quarantine-significant pest interceptions - invaders that might otherwise have severely damaged crops or even disrupted trade. CBP also maintains enhanced and targeted agricultural inspections of cargo and passengers from countries of interest to better detect adulteration of food or food sources and agents of bioterrorism.

"The potential threat to the nation's economy that U.S. Customs and Border Protection must confront daily has extraordinary consequences for our security and our economic well being," said Commissioner Bonner. "Our primary mission is to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering this country, and terrorism, whether it is explosive or bacterial, can be every bit as deadly."

"The unification of Agriculture, Customs, and Immigration inspectors with the Border Patrol into a workforce of 42,000 people under U.S. Customs and Border Protection has enabled us to accomplish unprecedented information sharing, streamlined services and cross-training among specialists," Bonner continued. "We have developed a united effort, working together and with other government agencies, to confront the realities of a dangerous world."

In March 2003, agricultural inspectors, technicians, and detector dogs, formerly of USDA/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), were transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security. It turned out to be a precedent-setting year on several fronts:

On May 20, 2003, a little over two months after the new agency was formed, a positive case of BSE or "mad cow" disease in Canada touched off an immediate ban on ruminant meat from Canada by the U.S. and most other countries. The new agency became and continues to be the first line of defense to make sure only properly permitted items enter the United.States, in commercial shipments, or with passengers, their baggage or vehicles.

• In June 2003, the first human outbreak of monkeypox was discovered in the U.S., and was linked to exotic animals being imported into the United States as pets. The Centers for Disease Control immediately imposed a ban on certain live rodents from Africa that CBP inspectors still enforce at ports of entry.
• One out of every five imports to the United States is a food product. In October 2003, under newly enacted provisions of the Bioterrorism Act, CBP and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) entered into an historic agreement to further protect the U.S. food supply. At ports of entry, CBP inspectors now carry out special inspection and sampling of foreign food imports and make referrals back to FDA for further testing and analysis. CBP and the FDA now also work side by side in targeting efforts, making joint decisions about any food shipments that could pose a potential threat to the United States.

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.