CBP Still Processing Protests in Several Major Ports During Shutdown
CBP seems to be accepting and processing protests, despite the government shutdown. CBP personnel at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach are still working on protests, confirmed a spokesman with the port’s public information office. Industry sources tell us the Ports of New York/New Jersey and at John F. Kennedy International Airport have also confirmed they will be processing protests, although with some delays. And other industry sources tell us the ports of Laredo and Detroit seem to be processing protests as well.
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“Customs is still accepting protests as usual, and providing receipts,” said Ralph Natale of the American Shipping Co., who recently attended a meeting where CBP JFK officials addressed the issue protests. “The response time may be a little delayed, but as long as the protest is clocked in on time, we are safe,” he said. CBP officials at the Port of New York/New Jersey also told Natale they are accepting protests.
“The protest sections are up and running,” agreed New York-based customs lawyer Steve Zelman, who recently spoke with officials at the Port of New York/New Jersey. Zelman was also told that the processing of protests may be delayed.
CBP Detroit also confirmed it is still accepting protests, said Jason Wapiennik of Livonia, Mich.-based customs law firm Great Lakes Customs Law. “My contacts at the port of Detroit tell me that protests can still be filed,” he said. While CBP Detroit didn’t give a definite answer on processing, it said that it is “up and running,” Wapiennik said.
CBP personnel tasked with protests at the Port of Laredo appear to be on the job, said lawyer and customs broker Victor Gonzalez. “To my knowledge, protests are filed with Entry Specialists and processed by the Import Specialists and they have all been classified as essential employees so that they are still on the job,” he said. The only problem he’s seen is that already-overburdened entry specialists are being tasked with still more duties. “We were notified only of cashiers in the entry office that have been sent home during the shutdown and now entry specialists, which are already overworked due to the volume of entries per import specialist, are performing the cashier’s duties,” Gonzalez said.
Northern Border Customs Broker Association President David Bissette hasn’t heard of any problems with protests so far. “When it comes to all after entry processing, petitions and protests, we haven't seen any specific lack of responsiveness, or an indication of how CBP will handle if deadlines are missed due to staffing,” he told us. “Our belief that as long as the rollback is only a short term problem there will be little effect, should this linger for longer than a few weeks this may change,” he said.
Instead, Northern Border brokers are most concerned with the furlough of Food and Drug Administration staff, as well as some CBP representatives, Bissette said. “Right now our primary issues have been with the day-to-day operations with the FDA being the most notable considering that they had planned on a 45% roll back of non-essential staff,” he said. “The loss of ABI account reps who were furloughed and the shuttering of several key websites have caused some concern, but no real problems to date.” -- Brian Feito, Tim Warren