Customs and Border Protection opens in Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI – A new joint U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility has been opened by the government. The 70,000-sf complex just west of Corpus Christi International Airport is nearly 12 times larger than the old one on Leopard St.

The new facility can hold about 100 Border Patrol and 19 customs agents plus support staff. It has detention, kennel, office and warehouse space, plus vehicle maintenance and washing stations. It can hold about 90 people for short-term detention.

The facility is unique because it is the only one in Texas to house both Border Patrol and the Office of Field Operations — the customs agents who in Corpus Christi are focused largely on clearing passengers and cargoes through the seaport and airport.

Though Corpus Christi is 120 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, the Border Patrol agents stationed here actually cover a much larger land area than their counterparts deeper in the Rio Grande Valley.

Read more at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.