Travelers stand in long lines to clear customs at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Friday, Aug. 16, 2019, in New York, due to a temporary computer outage that affected U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (Twitter user Brenna but in Leo Season via AP),
The massive shutdown of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection computer systems that processes passports of international travelers entering the United States is over. The outage occurred around 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, leaving hundreds of people waiting in line at airports across the country.
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“The affected systems are coming back online and travelers are being processed,” the agency said in a tweet late Friday afternoon.
Authorities don’t yet know what caused the crash of the system used to electronically check international travelers’ passports.
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“CBP will continue to monitor the incident,” the agency said. “There is no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at this time.”
Earlier in the day, Customs said the outage was temporary and that alternative systems were being used at port of entry airports, where longer than usual wait times were reported. In some cases, travelers were manually processed.
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“CBP officers are working to process travelers as quickly as possible while maintaining the highest levels of security,” the agency said.
Lines in international arrival halls were crowded at airports across the country, including at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Washington-Dulles International Airport.
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By mid afternoon local time, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport said its Customs systems were up and running again and agents were processing the backlog of passengers. Los Angeles International Airport was still manually processing passengers, tweeting that people affected should check with airlines for flight status impacts. LAX also said it was deploying “guest experience managers” to help in the Customs area.
Reports of backed up lines filled Twitter feeds as frustration grew among travelers getting off long international flights. One traveler called the outage “#customsapocalypse.”
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Wow
@JFKairport customs systems are down! Glad I have Global Entry but don’t think it’s gonna help
#jfk
#customsapocalypse
pic.twitter.com/WgwkaKwtGG
— Ninis Samuel (@TexNin)
August 16, 2019
A traveler at Dulles International Airport reported standing in line for about 90 minutes without seeing any movement, and another tweeted that the crowd was getting restless. Another Dulles traveler reported standing in line for 90 minutes without any movement.
I was finally able to check in for a flight before actually getting to the airport …. & now US Customs systems are down NATION WIDE! Line is crazy & getting crazier.
pic.twitter.com/RctYJbEFrF
— Ali Ahmad (@AliAhmad03)
August 16, 2019
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