Acting CBP commissioner visits San Diego, touts work of border agents, officers

SAN DIEGO ( Border Report ) — The last time the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection was in San Diego, he announced the formation of “Operation Apollo,” an effort to crack down on illegal drugs, and in particular, fentanyl.

Troy Miller, who is CBP’s Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner, brought together law enforcement agencies from throughout Southern California who pledged to work together to cut down on the amount of narcotics entering the U.S. through area ports of entry.

At the time, Miller said 47% of all fentanyl entering the country was coming through border crossings in the San Diego region.

Almost a year later, Miller returned to San Diego as a special guest of the San Diego Padres who invited him to throw out the first pitch during the team’s Law Enforcement Appreciation festivities.

Border Report was the only news agency given access to Miller during his visit.

He touted efforts made by Border Patrol agents and CBP officers who work the ports of entry.

“We’re safer because of them,” Miller said.

The acting CBP commissioner credited the agents and officers for helping bring down the number of unlawful entries into the U.S. in recent months while making record drug seizures at the border.

In the San Diego Sector, migrant encounters fell for the fourth straight month.

For the month of August, there were 14,436 encounters recorded. In April, there were 37,371.

According to CBP, fentanyl seizures have increased by more than 860% from the fiscal years 2019 through 2023 and have doubled from the past two years.

“I expect we’re going to see very much of what we’re seeing today, Border Patrol agents are going to be in between the ports catching bad things and bad people while the folks at the ports of entry are going to continue to keep fentanyl off our streets, we’re going to save lives.”

During his interview with Border Report, Miller also gave credit to people south of the border for being part of the effort to cut down on unlawful immigration and drugs coming into the U.S.

“Our partners in Mexico continue to work with us, our partners in South and Central America continue to work with us, I’m very optimistic we’ll keep seeing what we see today.”

Miller did express concerns about agents having to work in the Tijuana River Valley that is constantly polluted by raw sewage from Mexico.

Last week, researchers detected toxic gases, in the form of hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen cyanide, coming from the large amount of effluent found throughout the Valley.

Miller said he was going to continue working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the International Boundary and Water Commission, and others to make sure agents are safe.

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