Customs and INS: Information on Inspection, Infrastructure,	 
Traffic Flow, and Security Matters at the Detroit Port of Entry  
(22-APR-02, GAO-02-595R).					 
                                                                 
Concerns have been raised about the effects of heightened	 
security at two border crossings in Detroit--the Ambassador	 
Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. In the wake of September  
11, the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and		 
Naturalization Service (INS) increased the number and		 
thoroughness of inspections and questioned all bridge and tunnel 
travelers, leading to truck wait times that exceeded 10 hours. To
decrease wait times, Customs and INS extended shifts, curtailed  
vacations, brought in more staff, and obtained help from the	 
National Guard and local law enforcement. The U.S. and Canadian  
governments have agreed in principle to a plan to make the border
more secure without impeding traffic flow and trade. In addition 
to increasing personnel and improving technology, officials are  
considering pre-approval of low-risk traffic and reverse	 
inspections.							 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-02-595R					        
    ACCNO:   A03173						        
  TITLE:     Customs and INS: Information on Inspection,	      
Infrastructure, Traffic Flow, and Security Matters at the Detroit
Port of Entry							 
     DATE:   04/22/2002 
  SUBJECT:   Bridges						 
	     Emergency preparedness				 
	     Facility security					 
	     Inspection 					 
	     International agreements				 
	     International relations				 
	     National defense operations			 
	     National preparedness				 
	     Traffic regulation 				 
	     Canada-U.S. Smart Border Declaration		 

******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a  **
** GAO Product.                                                 **
**                                                              **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced.  Tables are included, but    **
** may not resemble those in the printed version.               **
**                                                              **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when     **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed     **
** document's contents.                                         **
**                                                              **
******************************************************************
GAO-02-595R
     
Page 1 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

April 22, 2002 The Honorable John C. Conyers The Honorable Carolyn C.
Kilpatrick House of Representatives

Subject: Customs and INS: Information on Inspection, Infrastructure, Traffic
Flow, and Security Matters at the Detroit Port of Entry

In your November 6, 2001, letter, you expressed concern about the
postSeptember 11 environment of heightened security along our nation?s
borders, particularly regarding passenger and cargo delays at the two
Detroit Port of Entry land- border crossings. As agreed with your offices,
we obtained information on U. S. Customs Service and Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) inspection resources, traffic flow patterns,
inspection infrastructure issues, security issues, and potential long- term
solutions and options to increase traffic flow and enhance security at the
bridge and tunnel.

On February 20, 2002, we briefed your offices on the results of our review.
This report transmits the material from that briefing.

The Detroit area has two land- border crossings: the Ambassador Bridge and
the Detroit- Windsor Tunnel between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario.
Daily, thousands of cars and trucks cross over the bridge or use the tunnel.
Fiscal year 2001 traffic volumes over the bridge averaged approximately
10,800 passenger vehicles and 4,300 trucks each day, and the tunnel averaged
about 11,600 passenger vehicles and 240 trucks each day. Trade values
between the United States and Canada total about $1.2 billion per day, 27
percent of which is accounted for by merchandise crossing the Ambassador
Bridge alone. Both the bridge and tunnel are operational 24 hours a day, 7
days a week.

Immediately after September 11, Customs and INS increased the number and
thoroughness of inspections and questioned all bridge and tunnel travelers.
This effort resulted in truck wait times of over 10 hours in the

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

Background Summary

Page 2 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

first few days. 1 In an effort to decrease wait times, Customs and INS
extended shifts, curtailed vacations, and brought in additional staff and
obtained assistance from the National Guard and local law enforcement. By
the end of October, wait times had generally been reduced to about 20
minutes. However, Customs officials and bridge and tunnel officials said
that delays occur for other reasons, such as a limited number of bridge and
tunnel lanes, too few inspection booths, and various choke points, such as
the bridge cargo inspection plaza on the U. S. side. Increased security to
both structures was also implemented. Among the actions taken, bridge and
tunnel officials stopped allowing vehicles from queuing up on the bridge or
inside the tunnel. The vehicles are now held at either end of the facilities
until backups have diminished before they are allowed to cross the bridge or
use the tunnel.

Balancing enforcement of border security and facilitating travel and
commerce is a major challenge for Customs and INS inspectors assigned to our
borders. Some solutions are planned to be implemented to help reduce traffic
wait times. For example, Customs and INS expect to increase personnel.
According to the bridge and tunnel company officials, long- term
enhancements are possible at both locations. For example, the Detroit
International Bridge Company, a private company that owns the bridge, also
owns land near the bridge that could be used for expanded inspection space
on the U. S. side of the border. Company officials said, however, that
negotiations with the General Services Administration (GSA) 2 for one parcel
of land have been unsuccessful. Also, according to tunnel company officials,
the city of Detroit owns unused land adjacent to the tunnel that could
possibly be used to expand inspection facilities. However, no negotiations
had been completed at the time of our review.

A plan to make the border more secure without impeding travel flow and trade
has been agreed to in principle by the U. S. and Canadian governments. This
plan is the Canada- U. S. Smart Border Declaration, which was signed on
December 12, 2001, by the Office of Homeland Security Director and the
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The plan focuses on four primary
areas: the secure flow of people; the secure flow of goods; secure
infrastructure; and information sharing in the enforcement of these
objectives. The plan has listed 30 items for action to

1 Prior to September 11, 2001, no data exist about extent of delays. 2 GSA
is generally responsible for acquiring, leasing, and maintaining property
for use by U. S. government agencies.

Page 3 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

improve border security and traffic flow. Many of the officials we
interviewed have suggested solutions for consideration that they believe
would facilitate the movement of traffic across the border and maintain
security of the bridge and tunnel.

Besides increasing personnel and improving technology to expedite the flow
of traffic, officials are also considering other procedures to improve
traffic flow and security. These include pre- approval of low- risk traffic
and reverse inspections. Pre- approved low- risk traffic would pass through
thus allowing for inspection efforts to concentrate on high- risk traffic.
Reverse inspections would involve U. S. inspectors clearing cargo and
travelers in Canada and vice- versa. Currently, vehicles leaving Canada are
not inspected until they reach the U. S. side of the border. Inspections,
under this plan, would be performed before trucks and travelers cross the
bridge or enter the tunnel instead of afterwards. However, proposals such as
reverse inspections are not without concerns and issues, and these are being
discussed at high U. S. and Canadian government levels.

To obtain information, we visited the Ambassador Bridge and DetroitWindsor
Tunnel from January 28 to January 31, 2002, and obtained preand post-
September 11 Customs and INS workload data. We met with Customs and INS
officials at their headquarters in Washington, D. C., and in Detroit; bridge
and tunnel operators; Detroit, Windsor, and Canadian Chambers of Commerce
officials; auto industry officials; and Canadian Consulate officials.
Overall, our work was conducted from December 2001 to February 2002 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

The enclosed slides contain additional details on Customs and INS resources,
traffic volume at the ports of entry, security issues, and proposals for
long- term solutions. We provided Customs and INS with a draft of the slides
and incorporated their comments as appropriate. As agreed with your offices,
this report concludes our work on the Detroit Port of Entry border
crossings.

Copies of this report are available to other interested parties. This report
will also be available on GAO?s home page at http:// www. gao. gov. Scope
and

Methodology

Page 4 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

If you have any questions, please contact me at (202) 512- 8777 or by e-
mail at stanar@ gao. gov or Darryl W. Dutton, Assistant Director, at (213)
8301000, or by e- mail at duttond@ gao. gov. Key contributors to this report
were Holly Ciampi, Cheryl L. Gordon, Bonnie D. Hall, and Maria Romero.

Richard M. Stana Director, Justice Issues

Enclosure

Enclosure Page 5 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Enclosure

Areas of Interest Concerning Detroit Port of Entry

Briefing of Results of Work Requested by: Representative Carolyn C.
Kilpatrick

Representative John C. Conyers February 20, 2002

Enclosure Page 6 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Objectives To provide information on the following areas of interest
concerning the Detroit Port of Entry specifically

Enclosure Page 7 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology (con?t.)

Scope:

Enclosure Page 8 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Background

Enclosure Page 9 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Background (con?t.)

Number of Vehicles Processed at Detroit Border Crossings FYs 1997- 2001 0
1,000, 000

2,000, 000 3,000, 000

4,000, 000 5,000, 000

6,000, 000 FY 1997 FY 1998 FY 1999 FY 2000 FY 2001

Ambassador Br idge/ Passenger

Ambassador Br idge/ Car go

Detroit- Windsor Tunnel/ Passenger and Cargo

Note: Passenger includes cars and buses

Enclosure Page 10 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

79 70 70

77 76 73 61

70 59

65 61

56 2 2 2 3 3 5 5 7 9 9 12 12 0 10

20 30

40 50

60 70

80 90

Oc t. 13

-26, 1996 Oct. 12- 25, 1997

Oct . 11- 24,

1 9

98 Oct. 10- 23, 1999

Oct. 8- 21, 2000 Aug.

1 2- 25, 2001

Total Full- Time Part- Time Supervi sors

Customs and INS Inspection Resources

Number of Customs Inspectors On- Board at Bridge and Tunnel Border Crossings
Prior to September 11

Enclosure Page 11 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Customs and INS Inspection Resources (con?t.)

64 62 67

52 54 55 10 12 10

8 8 8 0 10

20 30

40 50

60 70

80 FY 1999 FY 2000 FY 2001

Total Full- Time Part- Time Supervisors Average Number of INS Inspectors On-
Board

at Bridge and Tunnel Border Crossings

Enclosure Page 12 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Customs and INS Inspection Resources (con?t.)

Customs? response to September 11 events and supplemental resources.

Enclosure Page 13 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Customs and INS Inspection Resources (con?t.)

Enclosure Page 14 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Customs and INS Inspection Resources (con?t.)

CUSTOMS

Enclosure Page 15 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Customs and INS Inspection Resources (con?t.)

CUSTOMS

Enclosure Page 16 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Traffic Flow Patterns Traffic flow prior to September 11:

Enclosure Page 17 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Traffic Flow Patterns (con?t.)

0 20

40 60

80 100

120 140

160 9/ 14/ 2001

9/ 21/ 2001 9/ 28/ 2001

10/ 5/ 2001 10/ 12/ 2001

10/ 19/ 2001 10/ 26/ 2001

11/ 2/ 2001 11/ 9/ 2001

11/ 16 /2001

11/ 23/ 2001 11/ 30/ 2001

12/ 7/ 2001 12/ 14/ 2

001 12/ 21/ 2001

12/ 28/ 2 001 In minutes

Passenger and Truck Maximum Wait Times at DetroitWindsor Tunnel: September
14- December 31, 2001

Enclosure Page 18 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

0 20

40 60

80 100

120 140

160 9/ 14/ 2001

9/ 21/ 2001

9/ 28/ 2001 10/ 5/ 2001

10/ 12 /2001

10 /19/ 2

001 10/ 26/ 2

001 11/ 2/ 2001

11/ 9/ 2001 11/ 16/ 2001

11/ 23 /2001

11 /30/ 2

001 12/ 7/ 2001

12/ 14/ 2 001

12/ 21/ 2001 12/ 28/ 2001 in mi nut es

Traffic Flow Patterns (con?t.) Note: For the two delay spikes that occurred
after the end of October: November 8, 2001, was caused by vehicles being
held in a staging area to prevent them from sitting on the bridge, and the
other delay in November could not be explained by a Customs official.

Truck Maximum Wait Times at Ambassador Bridge: September 14- December 31,
2001

Enclosure Page 19 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Inspection Infrastructure Issues Bridge and tunnel infrastructure concerns

Enclosure Page 20 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Ambassador Bridge Cargo Inspection Plaza

Enclosure Page 21 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Inspection Infrastructure Issues (con?t.)

Long- term enhancements to bridge and tunnel infrastructure

Enclosure Page 22 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Security Issues

Enclosure Page 23 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Enclosure Page 24 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Long- Term Solutions and Options (con?t.)

Enclosure Page 25 GAO- 02- 595R Review of Detroit Port of Entry

Long- Term Solutions and Options (con?t.)

Some opinions on reverse inspections:
*** End of document. ***