United States border preclearance
The history of inspecting U.S.-bound passengers in foreign countries began in 1894, when American immigration inspectors were deployed to sea ports in Canada.
[4][5] After the requisite legal agreements have been executed, a foreign airport implementing preclearance for the first time must undergo significant remodeling or must build an entirely new facility to support the process.
The foreign airport is responsible for providing CBP with a suitable inspection facility based upon the agency's detailed design guidelines.
[8] Behind the scenes, the Transportation Security Administration rescreens precleared checked baggage at its first airport in the United States before allowing its transfer to connecting flights.
[10] Another advantage is that CBP officers are able to exclude inadmissible passengers and prohibited goods before a flight, train journey, or voyage commences.
An alien who is denied entry into the United States at a preclearance facility may not board the U.S.-bound flight, so CBP does not need to deal with making deportation arrangements.
[11] While serving as Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson explained this in September 2014 to the Council on Foreign Relations: "To use a football metaphor, I'd much rather defend our end zone from the 50-yard-line than from our 1-yard-line".
For example, major U.S. airlines and their subsidiaries routinely operate many daily flights from locations like Toronto or Nassau to New York City.
[18] As sociologist David Scott FitzGerald has pointed out, the sheer "absurdity of the legal fiction that passengers have entered the United States" is most evident when a departing airplane full of already-precleared passengers cannot obtain takeoff clearance due to worsening weather conditions and is forced to return to the gate at the foreign airport.
[5] The precursor of U.S. preclearance operation began in 1894, when the U.S. government entered into agreements with Canadian steamship and railroad operators to place U.S. immigration inspectors at four largest Canadian seaports of Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick, to inspect prospective immigrants seeking to enter the U.S. via the northern land border.
[19][20] In 1903, the arrangement, now formally named "pre-inspection" by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration, was extended to Victoria, British Columbia for U.S.-bound travelers before boarding their ship to destinations in Washington state.
The agreement paved paths for the expansion of CBP’s preclearance facilities as well as its detention powers on Canadian soil to the levels similar on U.S.
[25] On December 8, 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama signed the bipartisan Promoting Travel, Commerce and National Security Act of 2016 (H.R.
On average, however, U.S. airports offer far fewer daily flights to Canada (as a proportion of their total air traffic) compared to the reverse, making this an expensive and inefficient proposition that, as of 2022[update], has not been exercised by the Canadian government.
The request to include preclearance, however, was formally denied by the Department of Homeland Security in August 2010 due to the lack of U.S.-bound passenger flow at the time.
Nevertheless, special operations termed "pre-inspections" have been conducted by CBP and CBSA officers at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, British Columbia for passengers departing on the Amtrak Cascades trains to Seattle and Portland, Oregon since 1995.
[11][33] The "pre-inspection" procedures were enacted prior to the implementation of modern preclearance legislations, therefore only deal with immigration admissibility to the U.S., and the trains are still re-inspected by CBP for customs purposes at the border line in Blaine, Washington despite not making any further stops within Canada.
Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to fast track the approval of a preclearance facility at Montreal Central Station, which would allow U.S.-bound travelers on Amtrak's Adirondack to bypass an existing immigration stop at Rouses Point, New York for entering the United States.
[40] Prior to the opening of the preclearance facilitates, "pre-inspection" facilities were available for users of the Ketchikan-Prince Rupert service until the route's suspension on October 1, 2019, after the state announced that it could not unilaterally cover the cost of security service provided by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to unarmed CBP officers which has become mandatory under the LRMA.
[41] However, both Canadian and Alaskan governments announced in September 2021 that they would work to upgrade Prince Rupert's facility for the port to become the first seaport preclearance location by the time of the route's resumption in mid-2022, which would alleviate the need for RCMP presence as CBP officers would be able to legally carry firearms.
This post is particularly valuable to travelers on cruise liners that visit Alaska or that depart from Vancouver and have a first stop at U.S. cities situated along the west coast of North America.
[2][52][53][54][55] The preclearance facility at Grand Bahama International Airport in Freeport was suspended due to Hurricane Matthew from October 9 to November 3, 2016.
In April 2011, a team from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security traveled to Jamaica for talks with Jamaican government and tourism officials on opening future preclearance facilities on the island.
[citation needed] In 2017, U.S. Executive Order 13769 implemented a ban on passport-holders of seven countries, preventing traveling to the United States.
[67] In December 2011, the government of Abu Dhabi signed a letter of intent to construct a terminal that, when opened, would house a U.S. border preclearance facility.
[69] On June 6, 2013, the U.S. House passed an amendment offered by Representatives Pat Meehan (R-PA), Candice Miller (R-MI) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR), which prohibits the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using any taxpayer dollars to conduct Customs and Border Protection (CBP) preclearance operations at Abu Dhabi International Airport.
[71] Meehan indicated that the goal of the bill would be to prevent CBP from opening a preclearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates.
[37][24] In May 2015, the United States Department of Homeland Security announced that the following airports will be considered for the expansion of the border preclearance scheme:[75] On November 4, 2016, Sweden and the United States signed an agreement that would make Sweden the second European country, after Ireland, to offer preclearance, although no announcement has been made as to when the service will start.
The Taiwanese government is assessing the possibility of establishing a United States border preclearance system at its main airport, and according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Andrew Lee, the relevant government ministries are examining the issue and discussing how such a system could be put in place at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
[78][79][80] As part of the Windsor Framework and the supplemental Safeguarding the Union paper, the Government of the United Kingdom will explore talks to establish US Preclearance at Belfast International Airport.
