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GAO-02-215R 1 (2001-12-03)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptanwl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SGAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 December 3, 2001 Mr. Robert C. Bonner Commissioner U. S. Customs Service Mr. James W. Ziglar Commissioner Immigration and Naturalization Service Subject: Customs and INS: Random Inspection Programs Can Be Strengthened Prior to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we had initiated a review of the U.S. Customs Service's and the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) random inspection programs-Customs' Compliance Measurement Examination (COMPEX) and INS' Inspections Traveler Examination (INTEX). The purpose of COMPEX and INTEX is to help Customs and INS assess the nature and extent of enforcement risks at ports of entry. The programs measure these agencies' effectiveness by comparing violations found during targeted inspections with violations found during the inspection of random samples. Because circumstances and inspectional activities and priorities have dramatically changed at our nation's ports of entry since September 11, we intend to do no further work on the random inspection programs at this time. However, our observations of each program's operations raised some concerns about the design and implementation of COMPEX and INTEX and suggested some opportunities to combine the two programs. This report presents our concerns and suggestions for strengthening the programs once normal operations resume. Summary We found that both Customs and INS inspectors that performed COMPEX and INTEX inspections were not always adhering to guidance on how to properly select samples and were not always conducting inspections with the minimum level of thoroughness required. As a result, the statistical data generated by the programs may not reliably reflect the extent to which travelers who seek entry into the U.S. are in violation of Customs or immigration laws. We also noted that the COMPEX and INTEX programs both draw from the same population of international travelers, have similar purposes and goals, and oftentimes incorporate Customs and INS inspectors who work side by GAO-02-215R Random Inspection Programs

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