CBP’s assistant commissioner of field operations, Thomas Winkowski, offered statistics that provided context to the El Paso situation. He said that fiscal 2007 the port – consisting of four separate locations – processed over 34 million people, 14.3 million vehicles, and about 759,000 trucks last year.
The port intercepted 4,552 fraudulent documents, seized 193,000 pounds of narcotics, and arrested 2,830 individuals.
Winkowski also cited a net increase in workforce for the year, though out of 2,156 hires, that only increased CBP officers by 648 and agriculture specialists by 151.
He acknowledged that the bureau is challenged by expanding demand for services and new statutory requirements each year, and said that forces managers to require officers to work overtime, sometimes on numerous days each week.
“CBP does not have the luxury of shutting down a port of entry to give officers time-off," said Winkowski.
He also noted that officers are trained on a need-basis for a given function and do not complete every cross training module, but insisted that does not mean officers lack needed training.
