U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is responsible for keeping America’s borders safe and secure. On March 1, 2003, CBP combined the inspectional workforces and broad border authorities of the U.S. Customs Service with three other agencies:

Immigration and Naturalization Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Border Patrol. At CBP, the job is to keep terrorists, their weapons, and other illegal material or individuals from entering the United States, while also facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel. For obvious reasons, this mission is vitally important.

The CBP mission is:

The CBP ensures that all imports and exports comply with U.S. laws and regulations. The Service collects and protects the revenue, guards against smuggling, and is responsible for the following:

• Assessing and collecting CBP duties, excise taxes, fees and penalties due on imported merchandise.
• Interdicting and seizing contraband, including narcotics and illegal drugs.
• Processing persons, baggage, cargo and mail, and administering certain navigation laws.
• Detecting and apprehending persons engaged in fraudulent practices designed to circumvent CBP and related laws.
• Protecting American business and labor and intellectual property rights by enforcing U.S. laws intended to prevent illegal trade practices, including provisions related to quotas and the marking of imported merchandise the Anti-Dumping Act and, by providing CBP Recordations for copyrights, patents and trademarks.
• Protecting the general welfare and security of the United States by enforcing import and export restrictions and prohibitions, including the export of critical technology used to develop weapons of mass destruction, and money laundering.
• Collecting accurate import and export data for compilation of international trade statistics.

Today, in addition to its own laws, CBP enforces well over 400 other provisions of law for at least 60 agencies. A number of these statutes are quality of life issues that relate to the environment, such as motor vehicle safety and emission controls, water pollution standards, pesticide controls, freon smuggling and the protection of endangered wildlife. Other laws safeguard American agriculture, business and public health, and consumer safety.