Border Agents Stop Bologna From Being Smuggled Into the U.S.

March 11, 2022 — U.S. Customs and Border Protection brokers discovered 230 kilos of pork bologna that individuals had been making an attempt to illegally smuggle into the United States final month at border crossings in Texas.

Agents made two different bologna seizures in January, the CBP stated. In a type of instances, the driving force informed authorities he sells the bologna within the U.S. for nearly double the worth he pays in Mexico, in keeping with a information launch.

Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Department of Agriculture work collectively to stop pests and ailments from coming into the nation at ports of entry.

“People will sometimes make light of these seizures but there is nothing funny about these failed smuggling attempts,” Hector Mancha, CBP El Paso director of area operations, stated in a information launch issued Monday. “The importation of unregulated pork products has the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases which can be detrimental to our nation’s agriculture industry.”

A seizure in El Paso on the Bridge of the Americas border crossing on Feb. 25 yielded 110 kilos of bologna, the information launch stated. A U.S. citizen in a automobile “gave a negative agriculture declaration,” however additional inspection discovered rolls of pork bologna hidden within the automobile.

The driver stated a pal paid him to herald the meat. The man’s spouse arrived in a second automobile, and extra bologna was discovered.

On Feb. 28, 100 kilos of bologna was seized on the Santa Teresa border crossing when an inspection discovered “anomalies in the vehicle’s cargo area,” the information launch stated. The driver, a 59-year-old U.S. citizen, had additionally given a unfavorable agriculture declaration.

The CBP issued civil penalties for failure to declare business portions of bologna. The meat was destroyed by CBP, due to U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.

The information comes after CBP brokers seized 243 kilos of pork bologna in two unrelated incidents in January on the Paso Del Norte and Ysleta border crossings in Texas, the CBP stated.