Textile Program
Overview
The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Trade Enforcement Unit runs the textile program, which zeroes in on criminal and civil breaches of customs laws related to textile imports. These violations involve a range of deceptive tactics like false invoicing, incorrect country of origin claims, wrong markings/labeling, misclassification, incorrect product descriptions, and smuggling.
Focus
The main focus of this program is to support HSI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in making sure that illegal goods don't enter U.S. markets, duties are properly paid, and all relevant laws are followed.
CBP handles the enforcement of trade agreement rules and other U.S. laws that apply to the textile sector. HSI's role is to look into major criminal and civil breaches of these laws. When these investigations are successful, they can lead to major seizures, hefty fines, or even criminal charges.
Collaboration
Working together with CBP, HSI also coordinates visits by the Textile Production Verification Team (TPVT). Since 1987, these teams have been visiting foreign textile factories to check if the textiles shipped to the U.S. under free trade agreements and trade programs are actually produced there. Made up of HSI special agents and CBP import specialists, these teams are trained to assess the production and manufacturing capabilities of the factories they inspect.
