A U.S. Customs and Border Protection system for processing airline passengers on international flights failed on Friday, slowing entry for people arriving from outside the country during a busy summer travel day.
The systems are down nationwide, several U.S. airports said on Twitter and in interviews.
“CBP is experiencing a temporary outage with its processing systems at various air ports of entry & is taking immediate action to address the technology disruption,” the agency said in a tweet. “CBP officers continue to process international travelers using alternative procedures until systems are back online.”
JFK airport and Los Angeles International Airport said in tweets that passengers are being processed manually, slowing the entries. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport said the problem stemmed from the Federal Inspection Services’ system.
The Los Angeles airport authority has been aware of the outage since roughly 4:20 p.m. Eastern Time, Fred Badlissi, a spokesman for Los Angeles World Airports, said.
Customs officers at Dulles International Airport near Washington haven’t been able to process passengers arriving from outside the U.S. since 3:18 p.m. local time, said Micah Lillard, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
Passengers are being held in the international arrivals terminal and “the line is beginning to build,” Lillard said.
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—With assistance from Sebastian Tong and Madison Park.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alan Levin in Washington at alevin24@bloomberg.net;Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.net;Michaela Ross in New York at mross113@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sarah Kopit at skopit@bloomberg.net, Jon Morgan, John Harney
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