TEXAS, USA — U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists assigned to the Texas Bridge of the Americas and Santa Teresa border crossings seized approximately 230 pounds of prohibited pork bologna on two separate unrelated incidents in February.
“People will sometimes make light of these seizures but there is nothing funny about these failed smuggling attempts,” CBP El Paso Director of Field Operations, Hector Mancha, said in a CBP press release. “The importation of unregulated pork products has the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases which can be detrimental to our nation’s agriculture industry.”
The first seizure was made Feb. 25 at the Bridge of the Americas border crossing from a married couple from El Paso traveling in separate vehicles. One vehicle was being driven by a 23-year-old U.S. man who presented himself for inspection and gave a negative agriculture declaration to the primary CBP officer. The release said the vehicle was referred for a secondary inspection where rolls of prohibited pork bologna were discovered hidden in the vehicle.
According to the release, the driver admitted his friend paid him to import the bologna. Shortly after that, the driver of the first vehicle's wife was referred for a secondary inspection where more bologna was discovered. A total of 110 pounds of bologna were seized from both drivers.
A second discovery was made at the Santa Teresa border crossing Feb. 28, when a 59-year-old U.S. man from Santa Fe, New Mexico, presented himself for inspection in the vehicle primary lanes. The driver gave a negative agriculture declaration to the primary CBP officer who referred the vehicle for a secondary inspection. During a secondary non-intrusive inspection, officers identified anomalies in the vehicle’s cargo area. Further search resulted in the discovery of 13 rolls of prohibited pork bologna with a total weight of 120 pounds.
The men and woman were each issued civil penalties for failure to declare commercial quantities of bologna.
The bologna was seized and destroyed by CBP per USDA regulations.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Homeland Security are partners in the effort to protect American agriculture against the introduction of pests and diseases at our nation's ports of entry. Undeclared prohibited agriculture items will be confiscated and can result in the issuance of a civil penalty for failure to declare.
