OREANDA-NEWS. Dade Aviation Department (MDAD) Director Emilio T. Gonzalez hosted U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske and members of South Florida's bipartisan congressional delegation for talks on CBP staffing levels at MIA, as well as a tour of the airport's North Terminal federal inspection services (FIS) facility. The high-level federal officials' visit came just days after President Obama - in an effort to jumpstart America's job-supporting tourism industry - directed the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Commerce to produce a concrete plan to streamline the entry process for international passengers and reduce wait times at U.S. ports of entry.

MIA is America's second-busiest port of entry, handling more than 20 million international passengers in 2013, and its international passenger totals have grown by a staggering 30 percent over the past six years, more than any other U.S. airport. In light of that growth and an expected influx of new international travelers in 2014 with the World Cup in Brazil and the addition of six new international carriers, MIA has been aggressively advocating for additional CBP officers to help expedite the entry process for passengers arriving at the airport from abroad. Those efforts, which include trips to Washington, D.C. by Gonzalez, have been met with strong bipartisan support from the South Florida congressional delegation and Florida's U.S. senators. CBP has also been receptive to MIA's advocacy, pledging to deploy at least 60 new CBP officers to the airport in the next 12-18 months, and is evaluating increasing that number in line with strong international passenger growth and demand.

"I'm grateful to Commissioner Kerlikowske and our congressional delegation for taking the time to visit MIA and gain a firsthand understanding of the unique challenges that our hardworking CBP partners face at this busy port of entry," said Gonzalez. "We will continue to work closely with our federal partners to ensure that MIA has the personnel it needs to operate smoothly, because as the President recently pointed out, adequate CBP staffing at our airports is an economic issue for our country and for communities like ours, which rely heavily on international tourism and trade."