CBP Should Improve Its Air Coordination of the Rio Grande Valley Sector

In March 2017, the President of the National Border Patrol Council testified to Congress that Air and Marine Operations (AMO) flew “very little” at night and that United States Coast Guard (Coast Guard) pilots had to fly missions for U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector. We initiated an inspection in July 2017 to determine whether AMO and Coast Guard supported USBP Agents at night in the Rio Grande Valley sector. CBP should improve its air coordination to respond to the highest priority of USBP requests. During our inspection, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) established an operations center to improve air coordination at night in the Rio Grande Valley sector, but the operations center did not establish metrics to gauge the effectiveness of air coordination. If CBP continues to implement the operations center and develop metrics to gauge the effectiveness of air coordination, those efforts should improve the effectiveness of air support in the Rio Grande Valley sector and enhance unity of effort among CBP components.