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Computer Issue Snarls Immigration Processing at US Airports

Some travelers posted images on social media of long lines at checkpoints at airports

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday evening that systems around the country were being restored after an earlier outage prevented U.S. immigration officials from processing thousands of arriving passengers during a busy summer travel day.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the problem at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but the agency said it will continue investigating. There was no indication that the system was intentionally derailed, according to a CPB official.

CBP officers used “alternative procedures” to process travelers arriving from abroad, the agency said, including processing passengers manually. The outage was said to be impacting passengers arriving from other countries, not ones leaving the U.S.

Officials said that the systems were starting to come online around 6:45 p.m., but long residual delays were expected in major airports for hours.

Some travelers posted images on social media of long lines at checkpoints at airports in Washington D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, all three New York area airports and many more. There were complaints on social media of crowded conditions leading up to the customs areas, with some noting that there were no bathrooms until after customs — making the hours-long wait to get through that much more painful.

Others on social media lamented not only the conditions, but that they had not been told any information as they were waiting.

This story first appeared on CNBC.com More from CNBC:

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