Official website of the Department of Homeland Security
Speeches and Statements
Speeches and statements from the previous administrations are available in the Archive section of our website.
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is releasing the details of the death of a child that occurred after being apprehended for illegal entry with her father along the southern border in the El Paso Sector. The Guatemalan government was notified immediately following the child’s death. CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General is conducting a review. Out of respect to the family of the deceased, CBP did not issue a statement regarding the child’s death at the time of the death.
Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan conducted a short phone call with several members of the news media. Below is a transcript of his opening remarks.
Good afternoon and welcome. I also want to welcome Commanding General [Terrence J.] O’Shaughnessy of U.S. Northern Command.
talks with the media about Operation
Secure Line. General Terrence
O'Shaughnessy of U.S. Northern
Command stands next to him
UPDATED: 10/09/2018
Attributable to Andrew Meehan, Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, United States Customs and Border Protection
Statement on Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Arrest
“On Sept. 2, at approximately 9:55 a.m., a U.S. Border Patrol agent assigned to the Eagle Pass, Texas, Station, attempted to arrest a subject near the Rio Grande River. The subject, a 48-year-old Honduran man, assaulted the agent, who shot the subject with his service-issued weapon. The subject was transported to a San Antonio Hospital, for treatment of a gunshot wound to the arm, and was released later that afternoon. Following his release from the hospital, the subject was transported to Eagle Pass South Border Patrol Station for processing according to CBP guidelines.
Since the inception of CBP’s polygraph program, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has utilized the standard Law Enforcement Pre-employment Test (LEPET) format for all applicant polygraph examinations. In reviewing all aspects of CBP’s hiring process, CBP identified redundancies that existed in its applicant screening among the LEPET, objective database verifications, and Tier 5 background investigation processes.
Statement:
On behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, I want to congratulate Acting Deputy Commissioner Ronald D. Vitiello for his selection to be the next Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has taken immediate steps to implement the President’s Executive Order Affording Congress the Opportunity to Address Family Separation. Family unity will be maintained for families apprehended crossing the border illegally, and they will be transferred together to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Border Patrol will continue to refer for prosecution adults who cross the border illegally.
YUMA, Ariz. – On June 7, a Facebook post referenced an alleged transportation check by Border Patrol near the Nevada/California State line. On Saturday, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote an article concerning this post. The location of the alleged incident is near Yuma Sector however, no Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents were involved in it. The link below will take you to an ACLU story that CBP strongly rebuts:
DEL RIO, Texas - At approximately 11 a.m. CDT June 17, a Border Patrol agent assigned to the Carrizo Springs Station observed three vehicles traveling in tandem pass his location on a rural highway (FM 2664) and believed a smuggling event was taking place. The agent stopped one vehicle and called out a description of two other vehicles to other agents. Another Border Patrol agent encountered and stopped the second vehicle. Multiple arrests were made from each vehicle.
TUCSON, Ariz. – A U.S. Border Patrol agent was injured in the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 12, while investigating sensor activity on foot near Ruby Road and Chimney Canyon, south of Arivaca, Arizona.
At approximately 4:30 a.m., the agent called for emergency assistance from his patrol vehicle’s service radio. Initial indications are that the agent was attacked by an unknown number of assailants, one of whom fired several shots at the agent in close proximity. The agent was struck several times and it is believed that he returned fire.
Tucson, Ariz. – A United States Border Patrol agent was involved in a shooting incident on Tuesday June 12, 2018, at approximately 4:30 a.m. (MST), south of Arivaca, Arizona.
The Border Patrol Agent was shot and subsequently transported to an area hospital for medical treatment. Several subjects in the area were taken into custody.
On May 23, 2018, at approximately 12:22 p.m., a lone Border Patrol Agent responded to a report of illegal activity near a culvert by Centeno Lane in Rio Bravo, Texas where he discovered a group of illegal aliens.
The false accusations made by the ACLU against the previous administration are unfounded and baseless. The “report” equates allegations with fact, flatly ignores a number of improvements made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as well as oversight conducted by outside, independent agencies, including the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties over the last decade. The OIG has already completed an investigation and found these claims unsubstantiated and did not observe misconduct or inappropriate conduct.
“At this time, we have reached capacity at the San Ysidro port of entry for CBP officers to be able to bring additional persons traveling without appropriate entry documentation into the port of entry for processing. Depending upon port circumstances at the time of arrival, those individuals may need to wait in Mexico as CBP officers work to process those already within our facilities. As sufficient space and resources become available, CBP officers will be able to take additional individuals into the port for processing. CBP will communicate with Mexican authorities for operational awar
Thank you, Leon, and thank you all for being here today. Before I get started, I’d like to recognize several special guests. First, John Selden, Deputy General Manager of JFK Airport. We appreciate your partnership. I would also like to thank Gert-Jan de Graaf, President and CEO of JFK-IAT, for his input and wise counsel over the past three years. He really embodies the spirit of partnership and cooperation. I want to congratulate Gert-Jan as he gets ready to head to Australia take the top job at Brisbane Airport.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent discharged his service issued firearm, striking an assaultive male subject at approximately 11:30 a.m. (MST) on Wednesday, Nov. 29, in a remote area of the Baboquivari Mountain Range west of Three Points, Arizona. The assaultive subject later died as a result of his wounds.
Two agents were following a group of suspected illegal aliens through a rugged and remote mountainous area in response to a sensor activation. Both agents encountered the group of men 21 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border.
I want to first thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation and especially Special Agent- In-Charge Emmerson Buie for inviting me here to speak to you today.
This has been a sad week for our nation, for the CBP family, and specifically for the Agents of the U.S. Border Patrol. Our Big Bend Sector family is in mourning after we lost one of our own, Agent Rogelio Martinez.
The ACE system resumed cargo processing at approximately 10:00 p.m. EST last night and continues to process normally. All transactions backlogged in the queue were processed as of approximately 1:00 a.m. EST. Our technicians, in collaboration with IBM technicians, are working around the clock to identify the root cause of the disruption to the ACE database. We do know that this issue and the Aug. 2 outage issue are unrelated.
At approximately 3:30 p.m. EST today, CBP experienced issues with the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) database.
As a result, the ACE Portal is currently unavailable to all users and the system is unable to process EDI messages. All transaction processing is currently unavailable, including cargo release, all modes of manifest, and entry summary processing. CBP is unable to arrive conveyances electronically in any mode at this time. Access to AES Direct is also inhibited due to the unavailability of the ACE Portal.
WASHINGTON – Au fur et à mesure que l’ouragan Irma se rapproche des Etats-Unis et de ses territoires, les toutes premières priorités pour l’ICE, le Contrôle américain de l’immigration et des douanes et pour le CBP, le Bureau américain des douanes et de la protection des frontières, sont les mêmes que pendant l’ouragan Harvey : soutenir les actions de secours et de subsistance, d’évacuation en toute sécurité des personnes évacuant la zone d’impact, du maintien de l’ordre public, éviter dans la mesure du possible toute perte de propriété et promouvoir le rétablissement rapide de cette région.
WASHINGTON-Do Bão Irma đang tiến dần đến Hoa Kỳ và các vùng lãnh thổ của Hoa Kỳ, Cục Kiểm Soát Di Trú và Hải Quan Hoa Kỳ (ICE) và Cục Hải Quan và Biên Phòng Hoa Kỳ (CBP) dành ưu tiên cao nhất – như với Bão Harvey – nhằm tăng cường các hoạt động duy trì cuộc sống và ổn định cuộc sống, sơ tán an toàn mọi người khỏi khu vực bị ảnh hưởng, việc duy trì trật tự công cộng, công tác phòng chống mất mát tài sản đến mức có thể và khôi phục nhanh chóng khu vực.
WASHINGTON –pandan Siklòn Irma ap apwòch Ozetazini ak teritwa li yo, pi gwo priyorite Ameriken Imigrasyon (ICE) ak US Pwoteksyon (CBP) - jan yo te fé avèk Siklòn Harvey – se pou ankouraje aktivite ki pou sove e soutni la vi moun, sekirite avek evakyasyon moun kap kite zòn ki afekte yo, kenbe lòd piblik, anpeche péd pwopriyete pi piti ke posib, avek rekiperasyon nan rejyon yo rapid ke posib. Nenpòt moun ki rete nan rejyon kote tanpèt sa a ap pase a, dwe swiv enstriksyon nan men ofisyèl kote yo rete a, epi koute nenpòt avètisman sou tanpèt danjere sa a kap apwoche nou an.
