CBP Aiming to Automate Forced Labor Detention Process
CBP is taking steps to automate its detention processes with a focus on shipments detained for forced labor, said Lisa Santana Fox, director of CBP’s Fines, Penalties and Forfeitures Division. The effort follows December recommendations from the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, which said CBP should develop a single automated system for its detention and seizure process (see 2212080030).
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Santana Fox, speaking during CBP’s Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit April 19 in Boston, noted detentions are currently tracked manually and “every port keeps track of their detentions in a different manner.” The agency is hoping to “automate that process,” especially for forced-labor related detentions, by sending detention notices electronically instead of through the mail system.
“Eventually, we will develop a detention process that includes all modes of transportation,” she said. “So whether you're a passenger and we see something during passenger processing -- typically that happens because they fail to declare what they're bringing in -- all the way to include the commercial shipments that are interdicted.”
CBP is also planning to release a Federal Register notice “soon” that will allow the agency to simultaneously issue notices of seizure and notices of forfeiture, Santana Fox said. Currently, CBP sends out a notice of seizure and allows the importer 30 to 45 days to file a petition before the agency issues a notice of forfeiture, but the change will allow CBP “to do that at the same time.” She said the change won't affect the importer.
“That doesn't mean that, as an importer, you would have less time to respond. It's not going to interfere with your due process,” Santanfa Fox said. “It just speeds up the back-end processing for us, which, given the caseloads that we have in the various ports around the country, is going to be critical for us to be able to streamline.”
She said the change, part of several upcoming efforts designed to “streamline our processes,” will help CBP’s Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures Division better manage its increasingly heavy workload. The office is also planning to update its Seized Asset Management and Enforcement Procedures Handbook -- a “six-inch document of rules” that CBP is hoping to turn paperless.
“A lot of this is just driven by the workload keeps increasing -- exponentially, unfortunately -- but our staffing has remained the same for years,” she said. “So we’re looking for opportunities to do things better and smarter across the process, from the time an officer makes a decision to either issue a penalty or seize goods, through the eventual either destruction or sale of forfeited property.”
The division is also working on a “publicity” effort to better inform industry and even lawmakers about what seized property specialists do, “what they’re responsible for" and the "challenges" they're facing. “The way we get more resources is we need to get Congress' attention, and so we need to do that by telling the good story about what we do.”