The Commissioner kicked off the day by attending a morning muster at the Laredo North Border Patrol Station, and later toured the Interstate 35 Checkpoint, the largest and Border Patrol’s busiest checkpoint.

Next the Commissioner received an aerial tour of the southwest border and toured the port of entry at Hidalgo and received presentations on programs at the Hidalgo Port of Entry including overviews of International Border Interdiction Training, Passenger Interview Vehicle Inspection, Forensic Document Analysis Biometric Verification System, Hidalgo Information-Gathering Group and other programs.

During the presentations, Commissioner Basham expressed how impressed he was by the quality of the service provided by the CBP employees at Hidalgo.

Next on the schedule was a demonstration of marine assets and a Rio Grande River line watch tour at Anzalduas County State Park near McAllen. Then the Commissioner participated in a town hall meeting with employees at Rio Grande Valley Sector headquarters, where he met Border Patrol agents and CBP officers, and other support personnel.

On Tuesday afternoon Commissioner Basham joined President George W. Bush for a tour of the Laredo Border Patrol Sector Headquarters, where President Bush gave further remarks on immigration issues. From there the commissioner visited the World Trade Bridge Port of Entry, seeing FAST lanes and screening technologies in action.

The three-day visit wraps up on Thursday with a tour of the CBP operations at Houston International Airport.