United States Customs officers are now screening all cargo trucks that come into the country from Mexico. Their goal is to dramatically reduce the amount of smuggling taking place along our country’s Southern border.

Specifically, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents recently announced that they will be using X-ray technology and other non-intrusive tools to screen 100% of cargo trucks crossing our country’s Southern border. They hope that more thorough screenings will help curb the amount of illegal goods and people entering the country

U.S. Customs agent Patricia Cramer, a canine handler stationed at the Nogales port of entry in Arizona, praised the CBP’s new plan. She believes that during the Obama administration, our country’s border security was a joke. “We felt like we were the welcoming committee and not like we were guarding our borders,” explained Cramer, who also serves as president of the Arizona chapter of the CBP’s employee union. “The order was to facilitate traffic, not to stop any illegal drugs from entering the country,” she added, noting, “We want to enforce the law. That’s what we signed up for.”

During Obama’s eight years as President, CBP agents were only allowed to conduct random screenings. As a consequence, it’s likely that vast numbers of illegal goods and people were successfully smuggled into the country. Thankfully, now that Trump is in charge, this will no longer be the case.

Screening every truck will certainly not be an easy task. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are roughly 471,000 trucks that cross the U.S.-Mexico border every month. Out of all the ports of entry, the one in Laredo, Texas is the busiest. There, roughly 167,553 trucks pass through every month. Other busy ports include Otay Mesa in California (76,953), El Paso, Texas (58,913), Hidalgo, Texas (45,355), Nogales (29,439), East Calexico, California (29,173), Brownsville, Texas (16,140) and Eagle Pass, Texas (12,952).

CBP agents are planning to screen all cargo trucks because cartel members regularly use them to traffick illegal goods into the US by hiding them in trucks that then cross the border. Earlier this year, for instance, CBP agents uncovered 8,900 pounds of cannabis hidden inside two cargo trucks attempting to enter San Diego, California from Tijuana, Mexico.

The first truck that was stopped by officers contained thirty-nine large packages of cannabis wrapped in cellophane. In total, 523 pounds were seized from the truck, totaling roughly $261,000.

Several hours later, officers stopped a second truck and were amazed to find almost ten times as much cannabis as the earlier bust. Specifically, officers discovered approximately three hundred and fifty cellophane-wrapped packages of cannabis, weighing about 84,000 pounds, were found in the back of the truck. The entire amount was estimated to be worth approximately $4.1 million.

Unfortunately, illegal goods aren’t the only thing they smuggle into the United States. They also smuggle in undocumented aliens. Typically, the trips are extremely dangerous. For example, 10 illegal immigrants lost their lives while being smuggled across the border earlier this month. They were reportedly found in the back of a semi truck parked outside of a Texas in Walmart among approximately 100 other people who were all trying to sneak into the country.

When law enforcement officials arrived, the driver of the truck, James Matthew Bradley Jr., was arrested and charged with “unlawfully transporting aliens.” He insists, however, that he had no idea there were people packed in the back of his truck.

Following the incident, Thomas Homan, the Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vowed to bring the human traffickers responsible to justice. “Human smugglers have repeatedly demonstrated that they have absolutely no regard for human life,” stated Homan. “To maximize their criminal profits, these human smugglers crammed more than 100 people into a tractor trailer in the stifling Texas summer heat resulting in ten dead and 29 others hospitalized,” he continued, noting, “our ICE agents and officers, working closely with our law enforcement partners, will pursue these smugglers and bring them to justice.”

People must not be allowed to sneak illegal goods and undocumented people into our country. Hopefully, screening every single cargo truck that attempts to cross our Southern border helps to stop this from happening.