U.S. Customs and Border Protection
The United States federal agency responsible for border security, customs enforcement, lawful trade, and international travel processing.
Last updated August 21, 2026
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Overview
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security and the country’s primary border-control organization. Established on March 1, 2003, during the post-September 11 restructuring of federal homeland-security functions, CBP combined personnel and responsibilities from the former U.S. Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and agricultural inspection functions of the Department of Agriculture. Its creation placed border inspection, customs administration, immigration inspection, and much of the Border Patrol mission within one agency. CBP’s responsibilities extend across land, air, and sea borders. Its Office of Field Operations operates inspection activities at officially designated ports of entry, examining travelers, vehicles, baggage, mail, and commercial cargo. The agency collects import duties and taxes, enforces customs and trade laws, detects prohibited or restricted merchandise, and works to prevent counterfeit goods, narcotics, weapons, and other contraband from entering or leaving the country. CBP also administers trade-compliance programs and uses advance cargo and passenger information to identify shipments and travelers requiring additional scrutiny. The United States Border Patrol, a major CBP component, patrols the areas between ports of entry along the Mexican and Canadian borders and in coastal and other areas under its jurisdiction. Air and Marine Operations provides aviation and maritime interdiction capabilities. Agriculture specialists inspect goods and conveyances for pests, plant diseases, animal diseases, and other threats to American agriculture. The agency also maintains canine teams, intelligence functions, trade specialists, technology staff, attorneys, acquisition personnel, and mission-support organizations. CBP facilitates lower-risk travel and commerce through programs such as NEXUS, SENTRI, and the Free and Secure Trade program. It participates in international pre-clearance and cargo-screening arrangements, including the Container Security Initiative, through which partner-country authorities and CBP personnel identify high-risk containers before they are shipped to the United States. The agency also uses systems such as the Advance Passenger Information System and other government information-sharing programs to support passenger screening and border decisions. CBP is one of the largest federal law-enforcement organizations in the United States. Its workforce includes officers, Border Patrol agents, agriculture specialists, pilots, marine interdiction personnel, trade professionals, canine handlers, and administrative staff. The agency’s broad mandate makes it both a security organization and a facilitator of lawful international movement. Its operations have also made it a focus of public debate over immigration enforcement, detention and search authority, use of force, surveillance, privacy, civil rights, and the balance between border control and efficient trade. CBP remains an active federal agency headquartered in Washington, D.C., working with DHS components and other domestic and international partners.
History
The institutional history behind CBP reaches back to the founding of the United States. In 1789, Congress authorized import duties through the Tariff Act, and shortly afterward established the United States Customs Service and a network of ports of entry. Customs revenue financed a substantial portion of the early federal government and supported national infrastructure and public institutions. For much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, customs administration was primarily a revenue function, although it increasingly incorporated restrictions relating to health, safety, conservation, and prohibited merchandise. Federal responsibility for immigration developed separately. After the Civil War, disputes over state immigration controls contributed to the Supreme Court’s recognition that immigration was principally a federal matter. The Immigration Act of 1891 created a federal immigration-inspection office, with inspectors stationed at major ports to review arriving passengers and collect the immigrant head tax. Immigration administration later moved among federal departments and was shaped by increasingly restrictive laws, including the quota measures of 1921 and 1924. The Immigration and Naturalization Service was formed in 1933 through the merger of immigration and naturalization bureaus and moved to the Department of Justice in 1940. The Border Patrol’s name was formally changed to the United States Border Patrol in 1969. The modern agency emerged from the Department of Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the subsequent DHS reorganization. On March 1, 2003, the former Customs Service, immigration inspectors and Border Patrol personnel from INS, and agricultural inspection staff were brought together as the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, later known as U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Robert C. Bonner was the first commissioner and helped lead the consolidation. The new structure was intended to establish a unified border-security organization while retaining customs revenue collection, trade facilitation, immigration inspection, and agricultural-protection responsibilities. During its first decades, CBP developed specialized components and expanded its use of intelligence, risk assessment, electronic data, aviation, maritime assets, canine teams, and international cooperation. Its programs include pre-arrival cargo targeting, foreign-port screening, trusted traveler lanes, commercial-vehicle processing, and rail and maritime inspection arrangements. Border Patrol tactical and rescue capabilities were later coordinated through the Special Operations Group, while Air and Marine Operations assumed a larger role in interdiction and support missions. CBP’s contemporary work covers the full border continuum: inspection at ports of entry, patrol between ports, enforcement of customs and export laws, agricultural protection, cargo security, passenger screening, and assistance to partner agencies. The agency operates within a complex legal framework that authorizes searches, seizures, forfeitures, civil penalties, and criminal referrals for violations involving contraband, false import information, restricted goods, intellectual-property violations, and other customs offenses. Its size and visibility have made it a recurring subject of congressional oversight, litigation, inspector-general review, media reporting, and civil-rights advocacy. Debates have concerned the treatment of migrants and travelers, searches within the border zone, surveillance technologies, data privacy, workplace culture, accountability, and operational tactics. Despite these controversies, CBP continues to serve as the federal government’s central organization for border inspection, customs enforcement, and the facilitation of legitimate international commerce and travel.
- 2007
Border Patrol Special Operations Group is organized
[1]BORTAC and BORSTAR are brought together under a Border Patrol Special Operations Group structure.
- 2003
CBP begins operations
[1]Customs, immigration inspection, Border Patrol, and agricultural-inspection personnel are consolidated within the Department of Homeland Security.
- 1933
Immigration and Naturalization Service is formed
[1]The Bureau of Immigration and Bureau of Naturalization are merged into the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
- 1891
Federal immigration inspection begins
[1]The Immigration Act establishes a federal immigration-inspection office responsible for admitting, rejecting, and processing immigrants.
- 1789
Federal customs authority is established
[1]Congress authorizes import duties and creates the institutional foundation for the United States Customs Service and federal ports of entry.
Products and positioning
Federal border-security, customs-administration, and trade-facilitation agency
Port-of-entry inspection · 2003
Office of Field Operations
CBP’s port-of-entry organization inspects people, vehicles, baggage, mail, and commercial shipments arriving in or departing from the United States. It combines immigration inspection with customs, trade, and security enforcement and processes lawful travelers and cargo through designated land, air, and sea facilities.
Border security · 2003
United States Border Patrol
The Border Patrol protects areas between official ports of entry. Its work includes detecting and preventing unauthorized crossings, intercepting contraband, conducting reconnaissance, and providing search-and-rescue assistance across remote land and coastal environments.
Aviation and maritime interdiction · 2003
Air and Marine Operations
Air and Marine Operations uses aircraft and marine vessels to detect, track, and interdict people, narcotics, weapons, and conveyances approaching or crossing U.S. borders. It also provides operational support and may assist other agencies during emergencies or approved law-enforcement missions.
Agricultural protection · 2003
Agriculture inspection
CBP agriculture specialists inspect passengers, baggage, conveyances, and imported products for pests, plant diseases, animal diseases, and prohibited agricultural materials. The function is intended to protect farms, food supplies, ecosystems, and public safety.
Trusted traveler program
NEXUS
NEXUS provides expedited border processing for pre-screened, lower-risk travelers moving between the United States and Canada. Applicants undergo background checks and must satisfy program eligibility requirements.
Trusted traveler program
SENTRI
SENTRI offers dedicated processing lanes for approved, pre-screened travelers entering the United States from Mexico. The program is designed to distinguish lower-risk participants from general border traffic while retaining inspection authority.
Trusted trader program
Free and Secure Trade
FAST uses advance shipment information, approved participants, and dedicated commercial processing arrangements to facilitate trade across the northern and southern U.S. borders while supporting customs risk management.
Cargo security
Container Security Initiative
The Container Security Initiative enables CBP and partner authorities to identify and assess high-risk maritime containers at foreign ports before cargo is loaded for shipment to the United States.
Controversies
Oversight and civil-rights controversies
CBP has faced continuing scrutiny concerning treatment of migrants and travelers, use of force, detention-related practices, searches and surveillance within the border zone, privacy, workplace conduct, and accountability. The available reference material identifies these as areas of public and oversight concern but does not provide a single discrete incident suitable for a more specific entry.
Brand decisions
2003
Consolidation into a unified border agencyStrategyBackground
The creation of the Department of Homeland Security required the federal government to reorganize customs, immigration inspection, Border Patrol, and agricultural inspection functions.
Action taken
CBP combined relevant personnel and missions from the former Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and agricultural inspection operations.
Aftermath
The reorganization created a single agency responsible for border inspection, customs enforcement, border patrol, agricultural protection, trade facilitation, and related security functions.
- Expansion of risk-based travel and cargo processingStrategy
Background
Growing international travel and trade volumes required CBP to distinguish higher-risk travelers and shipments from participants eligible for streamlined processing.
Action taken
CBP developed and operated trusted traveler, trusted trader, pre-clearance, advance-information, and foreign-port cargo-screening programs.
Aftermath
These programs support faster movement for approved travelers and commercial operators while preserving targeted inspection and enforcement capabilities.
Recent events
- 2007
CBP launches the Special Operations Group structure[1]
Other
Border Patrol tactical and search-and-rescue capabilities are organized under a Special Operations Group, bringing BORTAC and BORSTAR into a common structure.
- 2003
CBP is created within the Department of Homeland Security[1]
Other · Leadership change
The agency begins operations by consolidating customs, immigration inspection, Border Patrol, and agricultural inspection functions during the creation of DHS.
CBP supports cargo screening through the Container Security Initiative[5]
Other
CBP works with foreign port authorities to identify and inspect higher-risk containers before loading for the United States.
CBP expands trusted traveler and trusted trader processing[4]
Product launch
Programs including NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST provide expedited processing for approved travelers and commercial participants judged to present lower risk.
CBP aerial assets support emergency and domestic law-enforcement missions[7]
Other
CBP aviation resources have been used at the request of other agencies for border operations, disaster assessment, humanitarian support, and selected domestic law-enforcement activities.
Sources7 sources
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