Customs and Border Protection's Implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative at Land Ports of Entry

摘要

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requires citizens of the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico arriving at land ports of entry to present passports or other approved documents to enter the United States. Although the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative became effective at land ports on June 1, 2009, Customs and Border Protection is not fully enforcing the new document requirement. Customs and Border Protection is using informed compliance procedures to educate noncompliant travelers about the new document requirement. Customs and Border Protection is reporting an average compliance rate of 96% at its land border crossings. Our objective was to determine whether Customs and Border Protection is prepared to fully enforce the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiatives new document requirement at land ports of entry. Customs and Border Protection is not prepared to fully enforce the new document requirement at land ports of entry. Although Customs and Border Protection has acquired and deployed substantial technological tools to aid in inspecting travelers, Customs and Border Protection has not analyzed the impact that a substantial increase in secondary inspection workload will have on secondary inspection staffing and infrastructure during full enforcement. The reported Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative compliance rates during the initial eight-month informed compliance period indicate noncompliant travelers arriving at the agencys 39 busiest land ports may increase the secondary inspection workloads at these ports by an average of 73% if all noncompliant travelers required secondary inspections. The agency has not finalized the operating procedures its officers will use to verify the identity and citizenship of noncompliant travelers. Customs and Border Protection officials told us other priorities have precluded them from completing the operating procedures. Until the new travel document requirement is fully enforced, the agency continues to incur risk that persons falsely claiming to be citizens of the United States, Canada, and Bermuda may be admitted to the United States. We are making four recommendations to better prepare the agency to fully implement the new requirement at land ports of entry. CBP agreed with our proposed corrective actions and is in the process of implementation.