The Port of Osoyoos Today
The technologies used at the current international Port of Osoyoos far exceed those of its predecessors. In 2007, the X-Ray capabilities of the border crossing revealed 182 pounds of the drug ecstasy in the walls of a trailer door. The value of those pills at the time would have been around $5.2 million.
The present joint American-Canadian border crossing at the 49th parallel was constructed in 2003 at a cost of $31 million (U.S.). The Canadian share of the facility is 40%.
Since the formation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the agency on the U.S. side is known as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP). The Canadian side is now the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). No longer are there Citizenship & Immigration Canada officers at the border, since CBSA officers now perform both customs and immigration duties at Canada's ports of entry
Unlike previous crossing points in the region that were oriented north-south, the new facility has persons and goods flowing east-west. The largest crossing in the Southern Interior, today's customs facility in Osoyoos has 553,000 travelers and 13,000 commercial shipments passing through its gates annually.
