Is CBP Back to Normal After the Shutdown? Latest Status

(EL PASO) U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations are running at full strength across ports of entry, with cargo processing, passenger screening, and border inspections continuing as usual despite the recent government shutdown in 2025. Ports with heavy traffic, including El Paso and Blaine, reported normal or manageable delays, a sign that frontline staffing and processing capacity stayed stable while other parts of the federal government scaled back.

Families crossing for school, work, and medical visits, along with truckers hauling time-sensitive loads, found lanes open and processing steady, even as Washington debated funding.

What CBP maintained during the shutdown

CBP kept essential services in place throughout the funding lapse:

• Officers remained on duty and ports stayed staffed.
• Core trade functions continued, including tariff revenue collection, agriculture inspections, and trade enforcement to block pests, unsafe goods, and counterfeit products.
• The agency did not furlough personnel, helping keep border flows stable and ensuring both safety and commerce did not stall.

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the agency’s steady posture helped prevent sudden backlogs that can ripple far from the border, affecting warehouses, retailers, and regional jobs.

Activities paused or delayed

Some tasks deemed non-essential were paused or queued to resume after funding normalized:

• Back-office activities such as refund processing for importers were temporarily halted.
• Possible delays were flagged for the broker license exam schedule and certain Partner Government Agency workflows that require multi-department coordination.

These slowdowns affected administrative processes but did not impact front-line lanes, inspection booths, or agricultural checks.

Frontline experience at the ports

Travelers and commuters reported routine operations:

• West Texas and New Mexico crossings: lanes open, officers at posts, routine inspections and secondary checks when needed.
• Northern border (Blaine): regular traffic moved through with waits within normal seasonal bounds.

For real-time planning, CBP’s official Border Wait Times tool remained available and updated for passenger and commercial crossings. The tool, hosted by CBP, is accessible at CBP Border Wait Times and serves as a practical gauge of day-to-day flow.

Supply chain and community impacts

Trade groups tracking cross-border shipments emphasized that the lack of widespread disruption mattered for fragile supply chains:

• When CBP officers stay in place and inspection systems run, perishable goods keep moving and manufacturers avoid costly line stoppages.
• Steady port staffing prevents surges of missed crossings by daily-commute workers, reducing hidden stresses on regional labor patterns.
• Small businesses that plan deliveries around published lane hours and routine inspections avoided unplanned closures or processing reductions.

VisaVerge.com notes steady staffing helps prevent missed crossings and related ripple effects throughout the supply chain.

Enforcement beyond the land border

CBP also shifted some resources toward interior operations during the funding lapse:

• Immigration enforcement resources were moved to interior cities, including Charlotte, North Carolina, and New Orleans.
• This demonstrated an active operational capacity beyond the border itself, meaning routine checks and targeted operations continued even while Congress worked through spending talks.

For migrants and employers, that meant enforcement did not pause pending a budget deal.

Agriculture inspections and their importance

Continuation of agriculture inspections helped protect farms and food supplies:

• Officers and agriculture specialists continued screening shipments for invasive pests and diseases.
• Maintaining these checks reduced the risk of quarantines, blocked consignments, or emergency responses that would otherwise fall on growers and state agencies.
• A single missed pest could have major economic and ecological consequences; continuity minimized that risk.

Back-office effects for importers and traders

The immediate friction for importers was administrative:

• Refunds and certain non-essential services were delayed, causing longer cash cycles for importers and extra planning for accounting and compliance teams.
• Industry advisers expect queued refunds to move forward as funding normalizes, but recommend monitoring correspondence in case filing windows or documentation requirements shift while workloads clear.

CBP has stated non-essential workflows will be handled in order once normal operations resume.

Community perspective and daily life

In border communities like El Paso, normal CBP operations have immediate human impacts:

• Students who cross daily can keep scheduled school attendance.
• Workers with early shifts or overtime rely on predictable processing.
• Families crossing for medical care depend on inspections that are firm but steady.
• Small businesses benefit from predictable lane hours and inspection timing.

When CBP operations hold, the fragile daily rhythm of these communities holds as well.

Enforcement continuity and deterrence

By keeping border inspections and cargo screening fully staffed, CBP reduced the risk of illicit actors probing for gaps:

• The presence of officers, canine teams, and agriculture specialists served as a visible deterrent.
• Continuity in enforcement protects trade lanes and border communities from increased smuggling attempts during federal uncertainty.

Important: The continuation of frontline operations meant that enforcement and safety did not soften during the funding lapse.

Current status and next steps

With the funding impasse resolved:

• Activities paused during the shutdown are expected to catch up, with non-essential workflows processed in order.
• Most frontline functions never paused, so the backlog appears limited to administrative items rather than inspections or port staffing.
• For traders and travelers, the system looks much the same: lanes open, officers on duty, and inspections running within expected timeframes.

CBP’s contingency planning helped keep the border ecosystem steady during a period when other services slowed or stopped. While shutdowns still strain federal workers and the public, keeping officers at posts, maintaining agriculture checks, and continuing revenue collection preserved trade and travel continuity.

Key takeaway: CBP operations remain fully operational and back to normal, with a modest backlog of deferred paperwork being cleared without affecting the flow at the line.