LAREDO, Texas –U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced today that Randy J. Howe, formerly the Executive Director, Office of Field Operations, for U.S. Customs and Border Protection has entered on duty as Director, Field Operations for Laredo Field Office. Howe succeeds DFO David P. Higgerson, who retired after 49+ years of federal service. Buffalo DFO Rose Brophy had served as DFO since November and covered the interim period.
“The Laredo Field Office is an important, large and distinguished field office that leads the nation in innovative approaches to enhance border security and trade facilitation envisioned and implemented by DFO Higgerson and his team. It also processes the largest amount of commercial truck traffic nationwide. I plan to tour the Laredo Field Office area of responsibility, meet our employees and apply experience gained from the Northern Border, Pre-Clearance and the national operations perspective to further advance and implement our strategic mission,” DFO Howe said.
Laredo Field Office
As Director of Field Operations for Laredo Field Office, Howe oversees the operations of eight ports of entry extending from Brownsville, Texas to Del Rio, Texas. The Laredo Field Office processes the largest amount of land-based commercial truck traffic in the United States with more than $178 billion in merchandise entering in FY2018 through the 23 crossings, six airports and one seaport which comprise the eight ports of entry.
In addition, in FY2018, CBP officers seized 101,509 pounds of narcotics valued at $243.5 million while processing over 3.5 million commercial trucks, 21 million privately-owned vehicles, 58 million passengers and pedestrians and 69,594 buses within the Laredo Field Office.
Randy J. Howe is a member of the Senior Executive Service who previously served as the Executive Director of Operations at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Headquarters. As Executive Director of Operations, he oversaw 20 major field offices, 328 ports of entry, and 16 Preclearance stations in Canada, Ireland, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. Prior to the Executive Director position, he served as Director of Field Operations, Preclearance, where he directed the Preclearance Field Office encompassing 16 locations in Canada, the Bahamas, Aruba, Bermuda, Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates. In this role, Mr. Howe led the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to expand air Preclearance to additional locations in multiple countries, including South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Japan, and Europe.
From 2014-2015, Mr. Howe served as the Director of Field Operations for the Buffalo Field Office, where he led port of entry operations in upstate and western New York. He has been proactively involved in CBP's extended border strategy through his work on Phase II of the Beyond the Border Cargo Pre-Inspection Pilot to test the feasibility of reducing wait times and congestion, and to facilitate legitimate trade, by conducting CBP commercial truck primary inspection in Canada.
Mr. Howe began his career in 1988 with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Diego, California. During his 32 years of federal service, he has held various leadership positions, including Buffalo Area Port Director, where he was responsible for all Office of Field Operations activities in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Binghamton, New York; Assistant Director for Border Security; and Border Security Coordinator.
Mr. Howe graduated from Niagara University in Lewiston, New York, and holds a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice.