U.S. Department of Homeland Security
2004 Year End Review
The
following is a snapshot of 2004 accomplishments and statistics
for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
Customs
and Border Protection (CBP):
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428
million passengers and pedestrians, including 262 million aliens,
were processed at land, air, and sea ports of entry. Of that
number over 643,000 aliens were deemed inadmissible under U.S.
law.
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1,158,800
illegal aliens were arrested by Border Patrol agents between
our official ports of entry.
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The
Container Security Initiative (CSI) was expanded to include
21 countries. CSI is now operational in 33 foreign ports in
Europe, Asia, and Africa. The port of Dubai recently became
the first Middle Eastern port to participate in CSI.
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Three
months ahead of schedule, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint
System (IAFIS) is now operational at all Border Patrol stations.
From September through November, over 23,000 individuals with
criminal records have been identified and arrested. 84 of those
detained were murder suspects and 151 were wanted for sexual
assault.
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The
Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terror (C-TPAT) has become
the largest government/private partnership to arise from September
11th. Just over 8,000 private sector members have applied to
participate in C-TPAT.
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CBP
officers and agents made 56,321 seizures of illegal drugs, with
a total weight of 2,199,619 pounds. Of this number, CBP officers
at official ports of entry made 47,744 seizures nationwide,
weighing 844,222 pounds and worth an estimated $1 billion. CBP
Border Patrol agents made 8,577 seizures, totaling 1,355,397
pounds of illegal drugs worth an estimated $1.62 billion between
the official ports of entry.
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Together
with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), CBP seized more
than $138 million worth of counterfeit goods in FY 2004, up
from $94 million worth of counterfeit goods in FY 2003.
Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA):
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FEMA
provided $2.25 billion in aid for individuals and families affected
by disasters. The outlay included $1.29 billion in housing assistance,
$918 million for other needs assistance, such as medical expenses
and personal property losses, and $30.98 million in unemployment
benefits.
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More
than 1.1 million hurricane victims have registered for assistance
since mid-August, the highest ever. $1.43 billion has been spent
for individual assistance needs and $1.15 billion in public
assistance for the state and local governments.
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15,560
federal workers were engaged in response and recovery operations
for the declared disasters of 2004, including more than 11,000
FEMA personnel and 1,900 disaster medical specialists. As part
of the massive response effort in Florida and other hard hit
states this past fall, 163 million pounds of ice, 10.8 million
gallons of water, 14 million meals-ready-to-eat and 151,000
rolls of plastic roofing material were delivered to help meet
immediate emergency needs.
Federal
Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC):
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Provided
basic and advance law enforcement training to more than 44,750
students, representing 81 federal agencies, as well as state,
local and international law enforcement organizations.
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Aggressively
pursued new initiatives in support of homeland security; developing
counter-terrorism training programs and facilities; enhancing
intelligence awareness and analysis training offerings; and
incorporating sophisticated technologies, such as computer generated
or controlled simulations, into training.
Immigration
& Customs Enforcement (ICE):
ICE was the
second-largest federal contributor to the nation’s Joint
Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) with more than 300 ICE agents assigned
to JTTFs nationwide.
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More than 2,500 criminal investigations were conducted involving
the illegal export of U.S. arms and strategic technology, including
Weapons of Mass Destruction.
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ICE
made 1,368 arrests and brought 895 indictments for money laundering
and other financial crimes, exceeding arrests and indictments
of the prior fiscal year. ICE seized more than $202 million
worth of currency, bank accounts, properties and vehicles as
a result of financial investigations.
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More
than 4,600 child sex predators were apprehended nationwide and
over 2,100 child sex predators were deported. The first child
sex tourism arrests were made under the Protect Act.
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A
112 percent increase over the prior year for fugitive apprehensions
resulted in more than 7,200 arrests. More than 150,000 aliens
were removed in FY 2004, 53 percent of who were criminals. This
is an all-time record.
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Federal
Protective Officers were responsible for 4,426 arrests – a 58
percent increase over the previous fiscal year. They responded
to 430 bomb threats and 877 calls about suspicious packages
and other items at federal facilities.
Transportation
Security Administration (TSA):
Passenger
screening has been effective in 2004 by keeping 6,501,193 prohibited
items from coming on board aircrafts. The following is a partial
list of prohibited items found during screening in 2004:
**
1,895,915
Knives
** 3,285,994 Other Cutting Instruments
** 294,694 Clubs
** 20,509 Box Cutters
** 598 Firearms
** 693,548 Incendiaries
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Over
3,000 arrests were made at security checkpoints.
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Approximately
650 million passengers traveled by air in 2004. 1.8 million
Passengers traveled per day and experienced an average screening
peak wait time under 12 minutes and an average wait time of
3 minutes in 2004.
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Approximately
600 million checked bags were screened using advanced explosive
technologies in 2004.
United
States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS):
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500,000
new United States citizens were naturalized.
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9,000
active duty military personnel were naturalized through expedited
processing.
35 million background checks of persons petitioning for immigration
benefits were conducted.
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More
than 20,000 children from around the world were adopted by U.S.
families due to petitions processed by USCIS.
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Almost
50 million visitors sought information about immigration benefits
and procedures from the USCIS web-site.
United
States Coast Guard (USCG):
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255,233
pounds of cocaine were seized breaking the record set in 1997.
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10,348
migrants were interdicted.
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5,498
lives were saved and 30,895 search-and-rescue cases were conducted.
The Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) was implemented.
It is the largest maritime regulatory project in our nation’s
history, which entailed the establishment of 43 Area Maritime
Security Committees as well as the creation of 43 Area Maritime
Security Plans, almost 9,200 Vessel Security Plans, and over
3,100 Facility Security Plans.
United
States Secret Service (USSS):
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30
individuals involved in global cyber organized crime, domestically
and internationally, were arrested through Operation Firewall.
Industry experts estimate that $1 billion in total fraud loss
was prevented.
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Completed
13,395 criminal investigations and arrested 5,566 individuals.
Of these, 1,956 individuals were arrested for manufacturing
or possessing counterfeit U.S. currency, which resulted in the
seizure of 499 counterfeit production plants and $46.5 million
in counterfeit currency.
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The
Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force Initiative was expanded
to include 15 task forces that work with federal, state and
local law enforcement agencies across the country, prosecutors
and experts from the private sector and academia.
US-VISIT:
In January
2004, US-VISIT (was successfully implemented at all 115 U.S. international
airports and 14 seaports. Since that time, more than 370 people
with records of criminal or immigration violations have been prevents
from entering the U.S. by Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Officers.
On September
30, Visa Waiver Program (VWP) travelers were included in US-VISIT
and the program has now processed more than 14 million travelers
while not increasing wait times and earning praise for its privacy
efforts.
US-VISIT is
now operational at the nation’s 50 busiest land border crossings
where significant time savings are already occurring.
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