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Washington, D.C. – The success of Customs and Border Protection to safely and efficiently operate the ever-expanding ports of entry depends on the agency’s ability to hire enough personnel to run them, National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon told Congress Wednesday.

In a hearing about Commissioner Kevin McAleenan’s vision for the future of CBP, Reardon submitted testimony about the extent of the staffing shortage, the strain it is putting on federal law enforcement, and how Congress can provide regular appropriations to alleviate it.

“Any vision of CBP’s future must include the hiring of new personnel at the ports of entry,” Reardon wrote. “CBP Office of Field Operations (OFO) is the largest component of CBP responsible for border security – including anti-terrorism, immigration, anti-smuggling, trade compliance, and agriculture protection – while simultaneously facilitating lawful trade and travel at U.S. ports of entry that are critical to our nation’s economy.”

 McAleenan was testifying before the House Homeland Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee.

NTEU, which represents about 25,000 CBP Officers, Agriculture Specialists and Trade Enforcement personnel, has testified repeatedly about the staffing shortages at 328 ports and 16 preclearance stations.

As of February 3, CBP had 23,002 CBP Officers onboard at the ports of entry—1,145 short of its FY 2018 target of 24,147, and 2,516 short of the number that CBP’s own workload staffing model says needs to be hired today.

The agency is also short 721 Agriculture Specialists, according to its own workload staffing model. The result is forced overtime shifts, multiple deployments away from home and low morale.

“Trade and travel volume continue to increase every year, but CBP OFO staffing is not keeping pace with this increase,” Reardon wrote.

For example, in June, a new federal inspection terminal will open at the San Diego Airport and inspection volume will increase from 300 air passengers an hour to 1,000.  CBP needs to hire and assign an additional 38 officers to the airport alone to staff this new inspection facility. 

NTEU supports H.R. 4940, the Border and Port Security Act, which would authorize the hiring of 500 additional CBP Officers, 100 Agriculture Specialists and additional OFO trade operations staff, every year, until the staffing needs are fully met.

Instead of raising user fees to pay for more CBP hiring as the administration proposes which has long failed to attract support in Congress, NTEU is instead urging legislators to provide up to $100 million in FY 2019 direct appropriations to increase staffing.

These jobs are crucial to the nation’s ability to screen people and cargo coming into the country for criminals, illegal drugs (including opioids), dangerous insects and anything that could harm the economy and security of the United States.

There is also an economic benefit to appropriately staffing the ports, where 1.1 million people and $5.9 billion in goods legally enter and exit the U.S. every day. According to the Joint Economic Committee, long lines and delays cost the U.S. economy up to $5 billion each year.  CBP estimates that the annual hiring of an additional 500 CBP Officers at the ports of entry would increase yearly economic activity by $1 billion and result in an additional 16,600 jobs per year to the U.S. economy.

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 32 federal agencies and departments.