Expect More Regional 'Diversity' in WROs Due to New Forced Labor Staff, CBP Official Says
The addition of a second forced labor investigations branch (see 2107210040) within CBP is expected to result in more enforcement actions outside of Asia, Ana Hinojosa, who heads CBP’s Trade Remedy and Law Enforcement Directorate, said while speaking at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones virtual conference Sept. 28. “We are expecting, because we now have two branches, to see a little bit more diversity in where some of the cases originate from,” she said. While Asia will remain a priority within CBP, “I would envision that in this coming year some of the withhold release orders will be focused on cases” in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
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The two investigations branches “will now focus primarily based on geographic areas where allegations are coming in from,” she said. The forced labor operations branch that “does all of the intake and a lot of the work with regards [to] post-investigation enforcement” also received more resources.
The total value of shipments detained by CBP due to forced labor concerns was about $415 million in fiscal year 2021 through Sept. 13, according to Hinojosa's presentation. So far this year, CBP has issued seven WRO and although “that number sounds small,” it includes some “pretty complex” WROs, Hinojosa said. “Just the withhold release order on the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for cotton and tomato products is a huge withhold release order. I'd say it's worth a couple hundred withhold release orders.”