It’s back to school season and many families are busy making sure the kiddos have all the things they need to have a successful school year.
Many of items consumers buy are imported and come through Port Houston and so, a lot of work goes into making sure those items are safe and legitimate.
Christopher Burke, Tactical Operations Chief with Customs and Border Protection said, “We’re looking at the cargo 24 hours before a container is put on a vessel and whatever country. We need that data, and information to start reviewing that manifest 24 hours before the container is put on that ship. So, we can apply a threat, a threat assessment to the vessel, the container or whatever, and, execute a plan from there.”
In an exclusive interview, U.S. Customs and Border Protection permitted access to the many layers of work and surveillance agents perform to keep consumers safe from counterfeit and dangerous items.
Port Houston is the nation’s largest port for waterborne tonnage.
“Houston gets about 77% of containerized goods coming through the Gulf of Mexico into the United States,” Burke said. “We get everything in Houston. We’re looking at the cargo 24 hours before a container is put on a vessel and whatever country. Keeping illicit goods off the street, keeping narcotics out. Instruments of terrorism.”
The threat depends on what action is taken and when.
“Human smuggling. Narcotics. Our targeting strategy covers all of that,” explained Burke.
If the threat is immediate, it’s addressed immediately. All other containers are removed from the ship and scanned. Some will require additional scanning off-site at area warehouses, which we will get to in a moment, others will be scanned at the port.
“We bring our X-ray truck and we’ll scan the container and we’ll look at the structure of the container and the cargo inside the container on the X-ray image,” Burke explained. “Smugglers use whatever avenue that they think we’re not looking at. It could be the cargo. It could be the structure of the container, the walls, the floor, the ceiling. It could be gaps within the cargo. If you have a pallet in a space in a pallet, they can put something in that space. We’ll also open the doors on these containers. And these officers will actually look physically look at the cargo. And if it doesn’t look right, it’s not right.”
From Port Houston, containers are transported to off-site warehouses to be scanned.
Omar Marquez is U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer. “We see a lot of counterfeit products here, all the time. Most of the time is for electronic devices. But lately we’re getting a lot of medical devices as well, which are a big concern for our safety. Baby products, make sure it’s safe for the kids. Make sure they don’t break into pieces. And so the kids, you know, the little ones that put them in their mouths.”
The solution starts with the consumer, shopping responsibly.
“Just be aware where you purchase your products. Make sure you get your products from a reliable website. They’re going to take your money and steal your identity,” explained Marquez.
In the grand scheme of things, counterfeit items seem to be benign, but they could be supporting something more nefarious.
“Absolutely. The money can go back into the market on the nefarious side and be used to fund illicit activities overseas or in the United States,” Burke added.
This is a fight that’s never-ending, but worth fighting from all angles, ensuring our children and consumers are safe.