CBP Adding Regulatory Audit Staff, Will Launch Survey on Electronics

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- CBP is increasing staffing levels at its Office of Regulatory Audit to keep up with “the revenue on the table” from the recent imposition of new tariffs and the Trump administration’s push for more enforcement, said Tom Jesukiewicz, field director of regulatory audit’s Los Angeles office, at the Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 20.

There are 60 new auditors “just coming out,” and each of Regulatory Audit’s 10 field offices are getting ready to add at least 10 more auditors, Jesukiewicz said. Currently the offices each have six teams of eight auditors, so the increase is substantial. Out of about 800 cases that are open, roughly 20 percent nationwide and more than 50 percent in the L.A. office have been referred to ICE. Jesukiewicz said he’s “in the billions of dollars right now in revenue collections” and has in the past three years “record-setting revenues” that exceed the past 20 years.

This year CBP’s “push” will be on electronics, and the agency will be conducting a survey on various types, Jesukiewicz said. These commodities have up to now generally been duty free but were recently hit with Section 301 tariffs. There are going to be “a lot of companies hit over the next few months,” he said.

Especially in the current environment, customs brokers, forwarders and even attorneys need to be careful with who they’re dealing with to avoid getting caught up in a criminal scheme. “I see these ICE cases today that everyone is involved, even the attorney; they’re all [facing] criminal convictions,” Jesukiewicz said. Brokers need to know their clients, and should be aware that someone could be making a false claim about their involvement in a scheme, such as an ex-wife or a bad client. “They’re pointing fingers,” he said.