Description:
Each year, Mexican cartels smuggle approximately $28 to $39 billion from the United States to Mexico through the 417 “official” border crossings between the two countries. Estimates indicate that only 25% to 50% of that money is processed and laundered through financial institutions and instruments other than cash. Congress passed legislation increasing the penalties for smuggling cash out of the United States; however, to many, smuggling cash is a victimless crime and the activity has continued to increase. Existing methods such as stronger operational partnerships, improved intelligence, random vehicle and body searches, and mandatory transaction reporting have helped make some seizures, yet have done little to stem the overall outflow. Department of Homeland Security officials have testified that reducing bulk cash smuggling will disrupt illicit activities and prevent proceeds from funding more crime, thereby reducing cross border violence. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) currently does not conduct full-time inspections of outbound traffic, and with a lack of technology deployed at ports of entry, only a fraction of the illicit cash flow is seized. Accurate, fast, non-intrusive methods for detecting smuggled currency at border crossings will complement existing operations and provide the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CBP with the flexibility to deploy a direct detection capability for immediate results.
