CBP Releases FY2011 Border Enforcement Statistics

Washington — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) today released year-end data on fiscal year (FY) 2011 border enforcement and management efforts, highlighting trends that reflect the Administration’s ongoing commitment to securing the border and facilitating legitimate trade and travel through targeted operations, enhanced partnerships and unprecedented deployment of personnel, technology and infrastructure along the border.

“In 2011, CBP made important contributions to our nation’s homeland security and economic vitality,” said CBP Commissioner Alan D. Bersin. “These numbers illustrate the investments made by CBP to improve border security, increase efficiencies and facilitate the flow of legal travel and trade through our nation’s borders and land ports of entry.”

U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions—a key indicator of illegal immigration—decreased to 340,252 in FY 2011, down 53 percent since FY 2008 and one fifth of what they were at their peak in FY 2000. Of these apprehensions, 87,334 people had a record in the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, a law enforcement database of individuals with criminal charges and convictions.

In FY 2011, CBP processed nearly $2.3 trillion in trade – a 14 percent increase over FY 2010 – and more than 340 million travelers and 24.3 million containers through our nation’s ports of entry. CBP officers conducted more than 24,800 seizures of violations of Intellectual Property Rights compared to nearly 20,000 in FY 2010.

CBP enrolled nearly 290,000 new travelers in the agency’s Trusted Traveler Programs (Global Entry, SENTRI, NEXUS and FAST) designed to expedite screening for low-risk travelers and commerce through rigorous, recurrent background checks.

CBP officers and agents seized nearly five million pounds of narcotics, a 20 percent increase from FY 2010 and more than $126 million in undeclared currency.

At ports of entry, CBP officers arrested 8,195 people wanted for crimes, including murder, rape, assault, and robbery. CBP officers also denied entry to more than 215,600 people attempting to enter the U.S. through an air, land or sea port of entry who were found inadmissible for immigration, customs, health, criminal or national security reasons. CBP agriculture specialists seized more than 1.6 million prohibited plant materials, meat, and animal byproducts and intercepted nearly 183,000 pests at ports of entry.

As a result of CBP pre-departure screening efforts overseas, more than 3,100 individuals who would be found inadmissible in the United States for national security, insufficient or fraudulent documents and other admissibility concerns, were denied boarding onto U.S. bound aircraft at foreign airports. CBP officers processed more than 15 million travelers at 15 pre-clearance locations in FY 2011.

Along the U.S. southwest border, a breakdown of CBP enforcement actions by state is below:

In Arizona, CBP created the Joint Field Command, an organizational realignment to integrate CBP’s border security, commercial enforcement, and trade facilitation missions to more effectively meet the unique challenges faced in the Arizona area of operations. As a result, CBP made significant gains in border security efforts, including an historic decline in apprehensions.

Under this administration, DHS has dedicated historic levels of personnel, technology, and resources to the Southwest border. CBP has more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol since 2004. In FY 2011, CBP increased the number of Border Patrol agents to 21,444, an increase of 886 agents from FY 2010, making our borders better staffed today than ever before. In addition, CBP employed 20,500 CBP officers in FY 2011 with additional officers expected to be on board by the end of the Calendar Year.

In FY 2011, CBP deployed additional technology assets, including mobile surveillance units, thermal imaging systems, and large-and small-scale non-intrusive inspection equipment, at the border. DHS unmanned aerial capabilities now cover the southwest border all the way from California to Texas – providing critical aerial surveillance assistance to personnel on the ground. CBP’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems flew more than 4,400 hours in FY 2011, the most in the program’s history, and 75 percent more than in FY 2010. The UAS program contributed to the seizure of more than 7,600 pounds of narcotics and the apprehension of 467 individuals involved in illicit activities.

CBP’s P-3 aircraft also contributed to the national counter-narcotics effort, maintaining a strong presence within the smuggling transit zones. P-3 operations accounted for 62 percent of the Joint Inter Agency Task Force – South detections and resulted in the interception of 169 drug smuggling events throughout the Caribbean Sea, eastern Pacific Ocean and over Central America. As a result of these interceptions, eight aircraft, 55 vessels, and three self-propelled semi-submersible vehicles were seized or destroyed yielding a seizure or disruption of more than 150,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of more than $1.89 billion.

During fiscal 2011, CBP also increased its collaboration with federal, state, local, tribal, and international partners to combat individuals and criminal organizations that pose a threat to communities on both sides of the border. In FY 2011, DHS awarded $54.8 million in Operation Stonegarden grant funding to support state and local law enforcement efforts in border communities.

In March, CBP opened the Operations Integration Center in Detroit—a first of its kind multi-agency communications center for CBP, DHS, and other federal, state, local, and Canadian law enforcement agencies on the northern border. The Operations Integration Center increases information sharing capabilities leading to seizures of drugs, money and illegal contraband along the US/Canadian border within the Detroit Sector area.

CBP also made updates to critical infrastructure and security technologies—opening Ready Lanes at 14 nationwide locations in FY 2011 bringing the total number of locations to 17 for travelers with Radio Frequency Identification technology-equipped documents that expedite entry into the U.S. CBP also approved more than 8.8 million Electronic System for Travel Authorizations for travelers to enter the U.S. from Visa Waiver Program countries.

For complete statistics on apprehensions in FY 2011, please see the following documents: ( U.S. Border Patrol Statistics )

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.