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Washington, D.C – Customs and Border Protection (CBP) needs an additional $350 million in Fiscal Year 2018 to hire enough CBP Officers, Agriculture Specialists and Trade Enforcement Specialists to work at the nation’s ports of entry, according to Tony Reardon, President of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Reardon submitted the request to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which held a hearing Tuesday on the 2018 budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

The additional funds would allow CBP to meet its 2017 staffing target of 24,214 CBP Officers and begin hiring an additional 2,107 to meet the agency’s own workload model. The increase would also pay for another 631 Agriculture Specialists that are needed at the ports to safeguard American agriculture. The administration’s proposed budget provides no new funding to address the current staffing shortages at CBP.

“Staffing shortages at the ports of entry lead to unnecessary delays for travelers and shippers, hindering economic activity,” Reardon said. “The new hires are necessary to meet the agency’s own staffing goals and get on with the business of moving people and goods in and out of the ports.”

NTEU, which represents the CBP Officers, Agriculture Specialists and Trade Enforcement Specialists at the nation’s 328 ports of entry, is also opposed to the administration’s request to backfill CBP Officer positions with 198 CBP Technicians. Reardon argued that hiring more technicians is acceptable, but not if they replace slots previously held by officers.

“With an ongoing shortage of CBP Officers, hiring new CBP Officers should be CBP’s priority,” Reardon wrote in his statement to the committee.

NTEU also objected to a proposal to retire nearly one third of the Canine Enforcement teams currently working at the ports of entry to detect potential threats and illegal substances.

“These canine teams are instrumental in detection and seizure of controlled substances and other contraband, which are often used to finance terrorist and/or criminal drug trafficking organizations,” Reardon wrote.

CBP’s ports of entry are the second largest source of revenue collection for the U.S. government.

“The more efficiently our ports can operate, the more money they can generate with shorter wait times in the cargo lanes and less hardship on frontline CBP employees,” Reardon said. “On top of that, the private sector will add jobs as their transportation costs and hassles are lessened.”

As Reardon pointed out in his statement, if Congress fully staffed the ports with the needed 3,500 additional CBP Officers in FY 2018, 106,000 private sector jobs could be created. For every 1,000 CBP Officers added, the U.S. can increase its gross domestic product by $2 billion.

NTEU represents 150,000 employees at 31 federal agencies and departments.