With not much else going on at the Southwest U.S. border (illegal alien apprehensions have hit record lows since the outbreak began), U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in the El Paso area spent a good bit of last week seizing hundreds of pounds of illegal cold cuts.
As in, luncheon meats.
CBP reports that between March 13-14, border agents intercepted more than 500 pounds of illicit bologna and another 100 pounds of pork and poultry deli meat. The first bust was made when a driver in an SUV was stopped at the Ysleta port of entry. After further inspection, agents found 35 rolls of pork bologna weighing 350 pounds, and nine rolls of pork/poultry cold cuts, weighing 99 pounds, covered up in the back seat and the trunk.
The next day, another 14 rolls of contraband bologna, weighing 141 pounds, was discovered in a Toyota Sienna being driven across the border from Mexico. The illegal meats were hidden in a pile of clothes.
“The meats are prohibited for personal importation because they are made from pork and poultry and have the potential for introducing foreign animal diseases to the U.S.,” CBP explained.