In Detroit, the drugs stop here

DETROIT — Fourteen inspection lanes are all that stand between 6,200 tractor-trailer trucks moving goods from Canada into the United States at the northern border’s busiest crossing point. If just one inspection lane at Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge closes, it can cost the private sector millions of dollars for every hour it’s shut down.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers stationed at the port enforce 500 trade laws and regulations on behalf of 49 agencies. And they must do so quickly and carefully because the country’s economic welfare and national security are at stake.