It only takes one bad apple illegally allowing individuals through a border crossing to let a terrorist in with a bomb.
While most of the LEOs and public officials who work at US borders and ports are honest, there are egregious cases of public corruption.
One such case was that of CBP officer Hector Rodriguez who admitted that he had received bribes of luxury items and cash for two years for letting illegal aliens into the country through San Diego’s San Ysidro Port of Entry.
To stop such cases, the FBI in collaboration with the DHS, launched a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of border corruption. The campaign encourages government employees and citizens to alert the FBI when they see suspicious activity or corruption.
Ten FBI field offices will conduct public outreach efforts for the ports of entry within their jurisdiction. These include:
- Arizona – Phoenix
- California – San Diego and Los Angeles
- Florida – Miami
- Michigan – Detroit
- New York – Buffalo
- North Dakota – Fargo
- Texas – San Antonio and El Paso
- Washington – Seattle
Public corruption is the number one target of the FBI. Federal partner agencies include:
- Drug Enforcement Agency
- Transportation Security Administration
- US Customs and Border Protection
The FBI employs 22 task forces and working groups for border corruption that involve 39 federal, state, and local partner agencies. More than 250 officers are dedicated to stopping public corruption at all US ports of entry.
While the Southwest border gets the most notoriety, the threat extends across all of the country’s borders.
The FBI encourages anyone who sees something suspicious or suspects corruption to call their local field office or submit a tip on their website: fbi.gov. Individuals can make a difference and could be the ones to stop the next attempted terrorist attack.