NEW YORK: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony today to officially open the new U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) New Orleans Sector Headquarters and Station at the historic U.S. Custom House. The new facility accommodates more than 30 employees in an 11,000 square feet of newly renovated space with state-of-the-art training, meeting space and additional processing and holding capabilities. The project also consolidates USBP workspace with CBP’s Office of Field Operations and other stakeholders. U.S. Border Patrol New Orleans Sector cuts the ribbon on their new location at the historic U.S. Custom House.
“Moving Border Patrol operations alongside our valued partners at the historic Custom House is critical to our border security mission.” Said Chief Patrol Agent Jonathan Richards. “With the exception of during Hurricane Katrina, we conducted operations out of the old facility continuously since 1963. Fifty plus years of history will certainly be missed.”
CBP executed this project in partnership with the General Services Administration. CBP leadership attendees included Acting Deputy Chief Scott Luck, USBP New Orleans Sector Chief Patrol Agent Richards, and Border Patrol and Air and Marine Program Management Office Division Director Abel Anderson.
The New Orleans Sector includes a seven-state area consisting of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and the Florida Panhandle. Four of these states have a total of 694 miles of coastline on the Gulf of Mexico. The five stations of the New Orleans Sector, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans, Louisiana, Gulfport Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama, are responsible for patrol of the coastal border as well as highway interdiction emanating from the border area.