U.S. Customs Recovers from Major Systems Outage

Travelers arriving in the United States on Friday were greeted by snarled lines following a nationwide failure of computers at the nation’s borders for several hours.

The United States Customs and Border Protection agency said shortly after 6:30 p.m. that its systems were closely being restored.

“The affected systems are coming back online and travelers are being processed,” the agency said in a tweet.  “CBP will continue to monitor the incident.”

While the system for processing arriving passengers was down, which included the mobile passport app as well as the kiosks used for the Global Entry trusted-traveler program, customs officers were processing individuals one at a time.

Airports reported significant waiting times for arriving passengers.

“Customs systems are down right now nationwide but they are starting to use backup systems,” said John F. Kennedy International Airport in a tweet.  “People are being processed, but slower. Thanks for your patience.”

The agency said that there was “no indication” that the disruption was malicious in nature.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)