Customs Agents Process 14K Coronavirus Evacuees At Dulles Airport

DULLES, VA – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport have processed more than 14,000 lawful permanent residents stranded overseas due to the coronavirus pandemic between March 20 and April 7, according to a release.

The U.S. Department of State has coordinated the flights flown by commercial and charter airlines that have been arriving at Dulles nearly every day. In the past 25 days, a total of 60 flights have carried 14,365 evacuees back to the U.S.

“These evacuation flights remain a monumental task involving a lot of moving parts working in unison to get these people home,” said Javier Cortes, CBP’s Acting Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington D.C., in the release. “I’m proud of our Customs and Border Protection officers, the airport and charter airlines, and other Federal partners for their work – as always, they stepped up when there was a real need.”

Working with the CDC, Customs officers have identified evacuees coming from countries subject to Presidential proclamation where enhanced health screening was deemed necessary.

The 60 flights brought evacuees from around the globe. Each flight averaged about 239 passengers. A flight from Qatar carried the highest number of passengers at 396, while on the low end a flight from the Azores carried just six. with a high of 396 passengers who arrived from Qatar, and a low of six who arrived from the Azores.

Here is the evacuee breakdown by continent:

• 26 flights from Africa with 6,667 passengers;
• 13 flights from South America with 3,398 passengers;
• 11 flights from Europe with 1,708 passengers;
• 10 flights from Asia with 2,592 passengers;
• the most flights, 12, arrived from Peru evacuating 3,156 passengers.

CDC and health professionals conducted the health screenings where necessary, and the airlines arranged for flights to carry the evacuees the rest of the way home.

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