# Is TSA at land crossings as well ?



## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

When we first came to Mexico we crossed through Laredo. To be honest I didn't pay much attention outgoing on the US side. Since then we have flown in/out of the US a couple times. Once we were even lucky enough to get TSA 'pre-check' status.

I was just watching an NBC (roku) story about the hours long waits at Midway airport in Chicago - blamed on the fact that TSA needs to provide security to the presidential candidates ! 

So - to bring this topic relevant to living in Mexico - if we were to cross back into the US through Laredo by land should we anticipate similar delays because of an 'over-worked' TSA - or is that only at airports ?

Side note : I was surprised to read this week that the US Coast Guard actually falls under the TSA.

Edit ; perhaps the Coast Guard is part of homeland security as is TSA ?? It is all so confusing.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

chuck846 said:


> When we first came to Mexico we crossed through Laredo. To be honest I didn't pay much attention outgoing on the US side. Since then we have flown in/out of the US a couple times. Once we were even lucky enough to get TSA 'pre-check' status.
> 
> I was just watching an NBC (roku) story about the hours long waits at Midway airport in Chicago - blamed on the fact that TSA needs to provide security to the presidential candidates !
> 
> ...


As far as I know, TSA is just airplane security. I have never seen them when I walked across the border (many times), and driving across (once).


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## ExpatEmigre (Nov 22, 2015)

TSA & USCG are both within DHS, correct. CG used to be part of Commerce.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

Here is a link to the article which caught my attention :
TSA to Frustrated Travelers: Please Pardon Our Progress This Summer - NBC News

At around 0:55 in the video the reporter says - "And today, confirmation that some TSA employees have been assigned to security for presidential candidates".

The wiki on DHS :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_security

"... the U.S. federal Homeland Security and Homeland Defense includes 187 federal agencies and departments,[4] including the National Guard of the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the United States Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the United States Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration, the 14 agencies that constitute the U.S. intelligence community and Civil Air Patrol."

Phew - to think they broke up the phone company for being too big.

So I guess the staff at the border crossings must be 'Border Protection' not TSA.


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## NoVaDamer (Mar 10, 2012)

*TSA just @ airports*

DHS came about as a result of 9/11. If you remember, there was in effect no security at airports back then: security was handled by the airlines/airports, which could not handle a determined threat as was presented by Al Qaeda.
TSA was created to be just airport security, and to make uniform the security efforts at all US airports. At sea ports and land ports of entry, you used to pass through Customs and Immigration, and see the Border Patrol along the border where people were NOT supposed to cross. Coast Guard patrolled the water approaches and interior waterways. All those elements were consolidated under DHS, with the intent of making them work together, which still has a long way to go.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

NoVaDamer said:


> DHS came about as a result of 9/11. If you remember, there was in effect no security at airports back then: security was handled by the airlines/airports, which could not handle a determined threat as was presented by Al Qaeda.
> TSA was created to be just airport security, and to make uniform the security efforts at all US airports. At sea ports and land ports of entry, you used to pass through Customs and Immigration, and see the Border Patrol along the border where people were NOT supposed to cross. Coast Guard patrolled the water approaches and interior waterways. All those elements were consolidated under DHS, with the intent of making them work together, which still has a long way to go.


Just today I heard that they are contemplating once again privatizing the TSA function at more airports. Apparently there are already 2 where that is the case (San Francisco and ?). I'll say this - ICE has some INCREDIBLE boats in the 35-40' range. They used to visit our canal in the States from time to time. It is amazing a boat that size can hold that many engines on the transom/platform. 

At the time of 9/11 I was working for a private data firm. At that time we may have known more about individuals in the US than anyone else - and certainly MUCH more than the US government. Perhaps the day after the attack we started profiling and created a short list (perhaps a few hundred people) which - in the end actually had a good number of the people involved. That piqued the interest of Bush/Cheney. 

IMHO - DHS is a good idea in principal if all the underlying agencies are only provided 'dumb-terminals' with access to a central storage area. One copy of the data that is shared by all.


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## NoVaDamer (Mar 10, 2012)

*You are spot on*

It made no sense that we had almost no border security except with respect to drugs. The various USG elements had little info and did not share. As you said, private firms did better. DHS has made progress, but still not there. When I applied for Global Entry (an ICE program), I automatically got TSA PreCheck, so some cooperation is happening.

I don't think its a law that TSA has to be there, but if an airport decides to take on their own security, they have to (1) meet federal standards, probably inspected by TSA, and (2) take total liability, meaning if something goes wrong, they get sued (which the feds are immune from). So while many local authorities threaten to replace TSA, its a big step.


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