ABU DHABI: The preclearance facility established by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency last January at Abu Dhabi International Airport prohibited 450 people from boarding flights to the United States in its first year of operation.
Some of those people were suspected terrorists, said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who wants to expand the network of preclearance facilities to other locations.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the CBP’s parent organization, now oversees 15 such facilities and has made customs preclearance “a big agenda item,” Johnson said in a speech to the Aero Club of Washington on January 16.
“We’re seeing considerable productivity in terms of the level of screening, and a number of people are being identified and not allowed to board at a number of these airports,” he added. “I think it’s important any time we can push out our homeland security beyond our borders.”
By screening people earlier in the travel cycle, the DHS believes it can better protect against high-risk passengers seeking entry to the U.S. and also help relieve long customs lines at arrival airports. But U.S. airline industry groups strenuously opposed its latest facility opening at Abu Dhabi’s airport, arguing that it would benefit only government-owned Etihad Airways, giving it an advantage over other carriers. Other U.S. customs preclearance facilities are located in Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean.
