Safe and sound

Just 54-miles north of Malta sits the United States and Canadian Border. Just 10 or so feet south of the border is the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Morgan Port of Entry where Port Director Joshua St. Denis and his officers are charged with the task of safeguarding America’s borders from dangerous people and materials while at the same time being the first person many foreigners see when entering the country.

“The beauty of our job, and why I love it so much, is a good portion of our job is being the first face (visitors to the US) see and it is so important that one, they get welcomed to the United States and if they have questions that we get answers for them.”

St. Denis gave an example of a foreign national who is going to become a lawful, permanent resident of the United States after waiting for years to receive that distinction. He said the applicant gets a packet and is told by the State Department to present themselves at a Class A port of entry (such as the Port of Morgan) for inspection.

“That officer in that booth is the first person they will see,” St. Denis said. “They will remember this day forever and I tell my guys, ‘you want to be that professional, helpful individual, while still being enforcement minded, while being compassionate to their situation because they are going to remember that moment forever.”

After the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, according to St. Denis, the U.S. Custom Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) were two of the agencies that were combined under Homeland Security to form the CBP in 2003. Though the CBP works closely with the U.S. Border Patrol they are completely different entities with much different missions.

“We are at the ports of entry and the (U.S. Border Patrol) are the ones who try to catch the people who are trying to avoid us,” said St. Denis. “Some people still think we are all the Border Patrol. One of the big things I want to do in Phillips County is let people know what we do and what we can do in the county. Most everyone else who comes through here are good, law abiding citizens. A very small percentage of people need more scrutiny. ”

With more than 60,000 employees, CBP is one of the world’s largest law enforcement organizations and is charged with keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. while facilitating lawful international travel and trade.

With the enactment of The Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, the Port of Entry at Morgan is rapidly becoming a major commercial truck port. The route through Malta provides a direct route from Canada to Billings, MT, the largest Montana city, to Interstate 25, which exits the U.S. at El Paso, Texas, and enters Mexico at Ciudad Juarez.

The Morgan Port of Entry received a new state of the art inspection facility in October of 2011. The Port of Entry has two inbound inspection lanes which can process both passenger and commercial traffic as well as a north bound land where outbound bound inspections can occur.

In 2014, CBP’s statistics showed that the Great Falls Area Port as a whole, which includes the Port of Morgan, cleared over 1.8 million personal, non-commercial travelers from October to October.

“A lot of these ports see a fluctuation in traffic as the (U.S.) dollar changes,” St. Denis said. “Now, with the dollar being what it is, we see a lot of U.S. citizens purchasing stuff in Canada and then importing it back into the United States.”

Port Director St. Denis has been a member of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection for nine years and has been at the Port of Morgan in Phillips County since last February. Prior moving to Phillips County, St. Denis worked at the Port of Roosville – north of Eureka, Mont. – and the Port of Sweetgrass in Toole County.

“I love it up here,” said Port Director St. Denis. “The family is happy”

One of the most common questions St. Denis and his officers get at the Port of Morgan concerns bringing money across the border. St. Denis said anything above $10,000 has to be declared at the port of entry, whether entering or exiting the U.S. Another popular question heard by officers is ‘do I need a passport to cross the border?’

“A lot of the time it is asked by Canadian citizens that haven’t crossed the border in a long time and know that things have changed since 9-11,” St. Denis said. “They want to make sure that before they get all the way down to the border that, do they have what they need to get into the United States.”

Another popular question for officers concerns agriculture and what type of food people can bring across the border. St. Denis said that changes about laws to what can and cannot be brought across the borders changes very often and is sometimes confusing to people.

“Right now meats, for personal use, is allowed,” St. Denis said, explaining that anything under 50-punds is generally permissible. . “And then pet food questions are a big one. Pet food with lamb or goat is prohibited and if people are bringing pets and their pet food, we like to see it in the original packaging.”

St. Denis said often times people will take the pet food from the original package and place it in smaller freezer bags making nearly impossible to tell what the food’s ingredients are.

“We can’t tell and unfortunately what happens is we have to seize and destroy it,” he said. A list of prohibited and restricted items can be found at the CBP website –www.cbp.gov – under the travel section.

St. Denis said that so far this year, enforcement has been up at the Port of Morgan. Though he couldn’t get into specifics about some of the items people have tried to move across the border, two cases are currently pending, but officers have found non-declared currency and small amounts of Schedule I narcotics. St. Denis said CBP has worked in conjunction with the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office on those drug cases and co-op arrests were made.

“We will call Sheriff (Scott) Moran and his deputies will come up and actually issue the citation. We work very well together,” St. Denis said.

Along with Sheriff Moran and the PC Sheriff’s Office, the CBP also works closely with Michael Rappold and the U.S. Border Patrol agents located in Malta.

“He has a great group of guys out here as well,” St. Denis said. “We are very fortunate to have such a great working relationship with these other officers and agents.”

If you have questions about crossing the U.S. border, Port Director St. Denis said he will be more than happy to assist. His contact at the Port of Morgan is (406) 674-5248

“If you ever have any questions about what goes on up here, hours or whatever, don’t hesitate to call me,” St. Denis said. “I am here for the community. I am here for anyone who needs help with that kind of stuff. I serve at the pleasure of the tax payers. I want to be that face for the community when it comes to issues at the Port of Entry. If you have a question and I don’t have the answer, I will work to find out and get you one.”