International travelers – who have an economic impact of $153 billion and support 1.2 million U.S. jobs – should not have to wait up to three or four hours for a three-minute interview when they arrive in the United States, says Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.
Dow applauded the House of Representatives for approving a six-month stopgap spending bill to keep the government operating past March 27 and require Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to maintain its staffing levels from the end of fiscal 2012. "We applaud the House for requiring CBP to maintain staffing levels and address the issue of unacceptable wait times at our major ports of entry, and we hope the Senate takes up action very soon to provide additional resources that facilitate travel to and within the United States," said Dow.
Currently, Congress requires CBP to have 21,775 customs officers, and the department reported it would have to cut as many as 2,750 officers due to the Sequester, U.S. Travel said.
Visit www.travelcoalition.org/sequester