For Immediate Release
DHS Press Office
Contact: 202-282-8010
WASHINGTON—DHS today released its 2014 year-end comprehensive travel and trade-related statistics from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“DHS employees stand on the front lines protecting our nation from dangerous contraband and people, while ensuring the free flow of lawful trade and commerce—just two aspects of our mission,” said Secretary Jeh C. Johnson. “This is critically important work, and our employees’ achievements are self-evident: in 2014, the TSA screened more than 650 million passengers, nearly 1.8 million each and every day, while CBP processed 31 million imports, $2.4 trillion in trade, and 374 million travelers. I salute our employees’ efforts that have led to these important successes.”
TSA Record-Breaking Year
TSA continues to enhance its layered security approach through state-of-the-art technologies, improved passenger identification techniques, and best practices to strengthen transportation security across all modes of transportation.
TSA continued to expand TSA Pre✓®, its expedited screening program that allows low-risk travelers to leave on their shoes, light outerwear and belt, keep their laptop in its case and their 3-1-1 compliant liquids and gels in their carry-on in select screening lanes. Through risk-based initiatives such as TSA Pre✓®, TSA provides effective security while gaining efficiencies and improving the travel experience for millions of passengers each week. This past year, 120 new TSA Pre✓® lanes were added and TSA Pre✓® operations began at 11 new airports. Today, TSA Pre✓® has more than 600 lanes at 125 U.S. airports.
- TSA had a busy year in 2014, screening 653,487,270 passengers (nearly 1.8 million per day), which is 14,781,480 more passengers than 2013.
- TSA screened more than 443 million checked bags and nearly 1.7 billion carry-on bags.
- Nationwide, fewer than one percent (0.32) of passengers waited in a line longer than 20 minutes.
- The TSA Pre✓® application program, which began in December 2013, enrolled over 800,000 travelers in 2014. In addition to these enrollments, CBP trusted travelers — those enrolled in other trusted traveler programs such as Global Entry, NEXUS and SENTRI — are also automatically eligible for TSA Pre✓®.
- Over 40 percent of passengers screened received some form of expedited screening in 2014.
Protecting the Public: Firearm Seizures
TSA officers continue their vigilance in protecting our nation’s transportation systems, including catching unusual and dangerous items at the checkpoints, including firearms.
- In 2014, 2,212 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country, averaging over six firearms per day. Of those detected, 83 percent were loaded.
- There was a 22 percent increase in firearm discoveries from 2013’s total of 1,813.
- In the same period, more than 1,400 firearm components, replica firearms, stun guns, and other similar dangerous objects were discovered by TSA in carry-on luggage.
- The top five airports for firearm discoveries in 2014 were:
- Dallas/Fort Worth International: 120
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: 109
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport: 78
- Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport: 77
- Denver International Airport: 70
Travel Facilitation Supporting Economic Prosperity
CBP has supported President Obama’s National Travel and Tourism Strategy to expand the nation’s ability to attract and welcome international visitors while maintaining the highest standards of security.
- CBP officers processed more than 374 million travelers at air, land, and sea ports of entry in 2014, an increase of four percent from the previous year.
- More than 107 million international travelers arrived at U.S. airports, an increase of 4.7 percent from the previous year.
- Despite the continued increase in international air travelers, average wait times were down 13 percent at the top 10 airports. At John F. Kennedy International Airport, the airport with the most passenger volume in the United States, the average wait time in 2014 was down 28 percent from 2013.
Utilizing Technology to Improve the Passenger Experience
CBP officers are responsible for carrying out the complex and demanding mission of securing and expediting international trade and travel at all ports of entry. CBP’s Resource Optimization Strategy is transforming the way CBP does business in land, air, and sea environments. As a result, the agency continues to implement advancements in technology and automation at ports of entry. In 2014:
- CBP installed Automated Passport Control kiosks in 22 locations to streamline the traveler inspection process, reduce wait times, and enhance security. At some Automated Passport Control locations, wait times decreased by as much as 25 to 40 percent.
- CBP also launched Mobile Passport Control, the first CBP smartphone app that expedites the entry process for U.S. citizens and Canadian visitors by providing an automated process through the CBP Primary Inspection area. The app, which is part of a pilot program, is free for travelers arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and is expected to expand to more airports later this year.
- CBP announced additional partnerships to promote trade and travel. In July, CBP announced initial selections for 16 new reimbursable services agreements under Section 559 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014. Reimbursable services under Section 559 include customs, agricultural processing, border security services, and immigration inspection-related services at ports of entry.
- Additionally, CBP’s five partnerships established under Section 560, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the City of El Paso, the South Texas Assets Consortium, the Houston Airport System, and the Miami-Dade County in Florida will provide new or enhanced port processing services on a reimbursable basis. A decrease in the average wait times at these locations is directly attributable to these partnerships with wait times decreasing by 15 percent at Miami International Airport, 24 percent at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and 40 percent at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
- The automation of the I-94 Arrival/Departure Record has greatly improved the traveler experience while saving the U.S. government an estimated $34.5 million over the past two years.
Trusted Traveler Programs
CBP’s Trusted Traveler Programs, which provide expedited travel for pre-approved, low risk travelers through dedicated lanes and kiosks, reached record enrollments in 2014.
- An additional 1.25 million people enrolled in the agency’s Trusted Traveler Programs (Global Entry, SENTRI, NEXUS and FAST) in 2014 to bring total enrollment to more than 3.3 million members.
- Global Entry, the agency’s largest program with more than 1.7 million members, is operational at 42 U.S. airports and 12 Preclearance locations; these locations serve 99 percent of incoming travelers to the United States. CBP added nine Global Entry kiosk locations in 2014 and enrolled its one millionth member in NEXUS, a program providing expedited travel between the U.S. and Canada.
Preclearance Expansion
Through Preclearance, the same immigration, customs, and agriculture inspections of international air passengers performed on arrival in the United States can instead be completed before departure at foreign airports. This not only reduces wait times, but allows the United States and our international partners to jointly identify and address threats at the earliest possible point, before arriving in the United States.
- In January 2014, CBP expanded Preclearance operations to a 15th location, Abu Dhabi International Airport.
- More than 16 million travelers went through one of CBP’s Preclearance locations in Canada, Ireland, the Caribbean, and the United Arab Emirates in 2014, accounting for 15 percent of total international air travel that year.
Trade Facilitation
In 2014, CBP processed more than $2.4 trillion in trade, an increase of more than four percent from 2013, while enforcing U.S. trade laws that protect the nation’s economy and the health and safety of the American public. CBP also processed more than 31 million imports.
- China, Canada and Mexico remain the top three U.S. import trading partners. Special programs and Free Trade Agreements represented approximately 30 percent of total U.S. imports, with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the recently enacted South Korean Free Trade Agreement leading the way.
- Duty collection remains a CBP priority and the agency collected more than $34 billion in duties in 2014, an increase of two percent from 2013.
- In addition, CBP processed more than $1.6 trillion worth of U.S. exported goods, an increase of four percent from 2013. In 2014, CBP processed more than 25.7 million cargo containers through the nation's ports of entry, up 4.5 percent from 2013.
- In 2014, CBP conducted more than 23,000 seizures of goods that violated intellectual property rights, with a total retail value of $1.2 billion. For example, CBP seized more than $10 million in counterfeit Beats by Dre headphones, more than $1 million in counterfeit Gibson, Les Paul, Paul Reed Smith and Martin guitars, and more than $1 million in counterfeit soccer apparel with fake Arsenal, Barcelona, Celtic, Chelsea, and Real Madrid trademarks.
Modernizing Trade Systems
The importation of goods into the United States is generally a two-part process consisting of 1) filing the cargo release documents necessary to determine whether merchandise may be released from CBP custody, and 2) filing the entry summary documents that pertain to merchandise classification, duty, taxes, and fees.
CBP has made several enhancements to its import and export processing system, the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). CBP continues to move from paper and legacy system requirements to faster, modernized and more cost-effective electronic submissions.
This past year:
- CBP launched new cargo release and entry summary functionality for its users, and incorporated the processing of export shipments into the ACE system.
- The new entry summary functionality included enhanced system validations that increase the accuracy of trade-submitted data. This implementation has helped increase the number of entry summaries filed in ACE, rather than the legacy system, to over 40 percent.
- Incorporating export processing into ACE also resulted in the processing of imports and exports in the same, modernized system. This created a single processing system for export data, which has improved the ability of CBP to facilitate the flow of goods out of the country.
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