US officers take up posts at Paris airport to help screen America-bound passengers

US officers take up posts at Paris airport

PARIS — American officers are taking up posts at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport to help identify potential terrorists or other high-risk passengers heading to the United States.

Officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Immigration Advisory Program joined French airport personnel Thursday. U.S. officers are working at airports in seven other countries under the program.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security expanded the program after an attempted terrorist attack by a passenger on an Amsterdam-Detroit flight last Christmas Day.

The Americans can recommend that airlines and governments block a passenger from boarding, but can’t make arrests.

Aside from identifying terrorists, the program aims to prevent human smuggling and passport fraud.