EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Presidio port of entry has a new port director, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Benito Reyes Jr. was formally sworn into office on Thursday, Nov. 7 at a CBP change of command ceremony.
Presidio is about 250 miles southeast of El Paso.
Photos courtesy of CBP
“My goal is to enhance collaboration with the community, our stakeholders and port personnel as we work together to balance legitimate trade and travel with our vital homeland security mission,” Reyes said. “It is truly an honor to be bestowed this opportunity to lead the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Presidio.”
As the port director, Reyes will direct operations and enforcement activities and provide management and administrative oversight of CBP officers, agriculture specialists, and canine enforcement officers at the Presidio port of entry and Boquillas international crossing.
“Mr. Reyes will work to ensure that the agency’s primary mission of preventing terrorists or weapons of terror from entering the United States is accomplished daily. Mr. Reyes is also responsible for all immigration issues related to the admission and exclusion of people applying for entry into the United States. He is also in charge of customs and agriculture inspections at the ports of entry to ensure that all goods and people entering the United States do so in accordance with U.S. laws and regulations, while ensuring that they are efficient in their processing to support the global marketplace and the international tourism industries,” CBP said in a news release.
Reyes began his law enforcement career with the U.S. Customs Service in January 1997 as an inspector assigned to the Laredo Port of Entry.
“Mr. Reyes’s work ethic and ability to adapt and learn efficiently have afforded him opportunities and assume greater responsibilities within the U.S. Customs Service and the CBP following the creation of the agency in 2003. Prior to being assigned as port director at the Port of Presidio, Mr. Reyes served as the assistant port director for trade operations at the Port of Del Rio, Texas. In that role Mr. Reyes managed the commercial vehicle and import and export merchandise movements through the port and directed a myriad enforcement-related programs designed to address anti-terrorism and border security enforcement activities in the cargo environment,” CBP said in its release.
Reyes’ career with the Office of Field Operations (OFO) has included duty locations such as the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston as well as in the Rio Grande Valley at the Hidalgo port of entry.
Reyes is a veteran of the U.S. Army with 16 years of service. He originally from Edinburg, Texas, and has been married for 33 years, with two sons and one daughter. Both his sons are currently serving in the U.S. Army.
CBP Field Operations in 2008 adopted formal change of command ceremonies as another way to unify the workforce and highlight the agency mission, according to CBP.
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