Q&A with CBP’s new Blaine area port director

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) promoted Harmit Gill to serve as the Blaine area port director at the end of March. The Northern Light sat down with Gill to discuss what he hopes to accomplish in his first year, how he’s improving transparency within the agency and his background growing up in Blaine.

Gill moved from California to Blaine in sixth grade and attended Blaine schools before earning his bachelor’s degree in computer science at Western Washington University. He worked as a systems analyst at Microsoft in Seattle before returning to Blaine to start his career at CBP. Previous to his new role, Gill worked as chief of staff for CBP’s Seattle Field Office since 2019.

As Blaine area port director, Gill oversees 17 ports and stations on the border of Washington state and B.C. as well as a general aviation facility and seaport operations in Bellingham, Anacortes and Friday Harbor. He is in charge of 700 employees who process over 17 million travelers and $20 billion in commercial trade annually.