Abstract
Four central government agencies are now responsible for policing the United States’ borders after the massive reorganization of federal agencies brought on by the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which patrols the border and undertakes immigration, border checks, and agricultural security checks at ports of entry; the Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which explores legal immigration and custodial violations; and the U.S. This study is intended as an introduction to the primary federal agencies responsible for border security; hence, it will include a short description of the function of each organization.
After the terrorist events of September 11, 2001, the United States Congress determined that strengthening border security was a top priority in the fight against terrorism. Before September 11, 2001, various federal agencies, such as the Department of Justice (through its Immigration and Naturalization Service), the Department of the Treasury (through its Customs Service), the Department of Agriculture (through its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), and the Department of Transportation (through its Federal Highway Administration), were responsible for various aspects of border security (the Coast Guard). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was established due to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296). The majority of these departments were housed under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security (BTS), which was responsible for protecting U.S. borders, territorial waters, terminals, waterways, and the nation’s air, land, and sea transportation systems, as well as managing the country’s ports of entry.
The United States Coast Guard is the only organization that has not been integrated with DHS. The BTS was made up of three central agencies: (1) the Customs and Border Protection, which was responsible for business operations, safety checks, and land border patrol functions; (2) the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which was responsible for investigations, detainment, relocations, air/marine drug interdiction processes, and governmental protective services; and (3) the Transportation Security Administration, which was responsible for protecting the nation’s air, land, and rail transport networks against all types of attack to ensure the liberty of movement for p. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, after being confirmed to the position, conducted a months-long Second Stage Review (2SR), the findings of which were released on July 13, 2005. The DHS Appropriations Conference concurred with Secretary Chertoff’s suggestion to eliminate the BTS Directorate. The BTS Directorate’s policy coordinating duties were among those taken over by the newly established Office of Policy, as stated by the Secretary. BTS’s component operational agencies (CBP, ICE, and TSA) now directly report to the DHS Secretary and Deputy Secretary.
The purpose of this restructuring was to standardize DHS policies and procedures and to reduce the amount of time spent on their development. In addition, the Federal Air Marshals program was transferred back to TSA from ICE to improve communication and cooperation among the many government agencies responsible for aviation security. In a nutshell, CBP is the DHS’s frontline responder to immigration and customs breaches, while ICE is the agency’s investigation arm. As its name implies, TSA is responsible for ensuring the safety of the country’s transportation networks. At the same time, the United States Coast Guard also plays a crucial role in border security by monitoring U.S. territory and neighboring international seas for potential threats. The Department of Homeland Security’s border security agencies received $30.48 billion in funding for FY 2009 and employed at least 175,251 people full-time.
The Bureau of Customs and Border Inspection
CBP put some of the border enforcement agencies that were already in place under one administrative roof. This meant taking workers from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the Border Patrol, the Customs Service, and the Department of Agriculture. CBP’s job is to stop terrorists and terrorist armaments from coming into the country, to protect U.S. borders and ports of entry, to catch illegal immigrants, to stop the flow of illicit drugs, and to keep harmful pests and diseases from hurting American agriculture and businesses (Ramji-Nogales & Goldner, 2020). As it carries out its official duties, CBP has two main, and sometimes competing, goals: increasing security and making legal trade and travel more accessible. In FY2009, the CBP had a net budget of $10.51 billion and at least 54,868 FTE employees. The U.S. Border Patrol, part of CBP, enforces U.S. immigration legislation and other national statutes along the border between standard ports of entry.
As it is right now, the USBP is the Department of Homeland Security’s uniformed police force. Its main job is to find and stop terrorists, nuclear weapons, unauthorized immigrants, drug smugglers, and other criminals from getting into the country. In order to do its job, the USBP patrols more than 8,000 miles of our international borders with Canada and Mexico, as well as the shorelines around Florida and Puerto Rico. CBP officers are in charge of immigration, customs, and agricultural inspections of people coming into the country through official ports of entry. As part of the “one face at the border” program, CBP inspectors are learning how to do all three types of inspections so that crossing the border can go faster. This project unifies the inspections that have been done in the past. People from other countries will only have to go through one primary inspector, trained to decide if a more thorough secondary inspection is needed (Ramji-Nogales & Goldner, 2020). CBP inspectors enforce immigration laws by looking at and verifying the travel documents of people coming into the country from other countries to ensure they are allowed to do so. On the customs side, CBP inspectors make sure that all imports and exports follow U.S. laws and rules. They also collect and protect U.S. revenues and keep an eye out for people trying to bring illegal goods into the country. CBP is also in charge of inspecting farms at ports of entry to ensure that many laws about protecting animals and plants are followed. CBP inspectors have a wide range of powers to check all people, vehicles, conveyances, goods, and bags coming into the United States from a foreign country so they can do all these jobs.
Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement
Investigations, custody and removal, most intelligence activities, and the Federal Protective Service were all formerly conducted by the INS but have since been amalgamated with the Customs Service to become ICE (FPS). Given its mandate, ICE is now DHS’s primary investigative agency. Targeting the individuals, resources, and infrastructure that provide for terrorist and criminal networks is central to ICE’s goal of detection and prevention. 10 Despite their primary emphasis on internal enforcement, they are an integral part of our nation’s border security network (Ramji-Nogales & Goldner, 2020). There were at least 18,975 full-time equivalents, ICE workers, in FY2009 when the agency received funding of $5.02 billion. Special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) look into immigration and customs offenses within the country, whereas CBP only has authority for border patrol. Among ICE’s many responsibilities is the investigation of immigration violations at workplaces, the discovery of alien and prohibited items smuggling operations, the interception of narcotics shipments, and the detention and removal of illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security by, for example, possessing weapons of mass destruction or being potential terrorists. Strategic and tactical intelligence data relating to homeland security, infrastructure security, and the illicit movement of people, money, and goods inside the United States is collected, analyzed, and shared by ICE. Finally, ICE uses the F.P. to oversee the safety of over 8,880 federal buildings around the country.
The United States Coast Guard
P.L. 107-296 established the Coast Guard as an independent entity within DHS. The United States Coast Guard’s overarching objective is to ensure the safety of mariners, marine ecosystems, and U.S. economic interests in all maritime areas, including U.S. ports and waterways, coastlines, and international seas (Ramji-Nogales & Goldner, 2020). Since the Coast Guard is the primary federal agency in charge of the maritime aspect of homeland security, including port security, it is the primary federal agency responsible for enforcing maritime law in the United States. The Coast Guard’s mandate includes protecting U.S. Navy vessels in ports and examining, boarding, and inspecting commercial ships entering U.S. seas to ensure they are safe. Each port has a senior Coast Guard officer who acts as the “Captain of the Port,” the top government authority in charge of protecting the safety of ships and waterways in their jurisdiction.
In FY2009, the Coast Guard employed at least 48,940 full-time equivalents (FTE) military and civilian personnel, and the appropriation for their budget was $9.61 billion. The Coast Guard is guarding more than 361 ports and 95,100 miles of coastline as part of Operation Noble Eagle (military activities in homeland protection and civil assistance to U.S. federal, state, and local authorities). Preserving maritime immigration enforcement against illicit narcotics, illegal aliens, assault weapons, and nuclear weapons; ensuring that the United States can rapidly deploy and replenish military facilities by keeping the Coast Guard at a high level of readiness and by keeping maritime transport services open for the other armed personnel; these are all aspects of the Coast Guard’s role in homeland security.
Transport Security Administration
After September 11, the United States government established the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to maintain the safety of the country’s air, land, and rail transportation networks, therefore preserving the right of its citizens and businesses to travel freely. Provisions of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA, P.L.107-71) established a national baggage screener workforce, mandated the use of explosive detection equipment for all checked baggage, and significantly increased the scope of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Forward Air Monitoring System (FAMS). The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was moved from the Department of Transportation to the newly established Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002; as mentioned above, the Federal Air Marshal program was removed from TSA and moved to ICE in 2003. TSA took over responsibility for the program in FY2006. TSA received $5.38 billion in funding in FY2009 and employed at least 51,498 people full-time equivalently.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) took over the role of screening airline passengers and their luggage from the airlines in order to fulfill its purpose of protecting the nation’s aviation system. Air cargo and airport security procedures, including securing the airport perimeter and conducting background checks on airport employees with access to sensitive areas, are within TSA’s purview. Every airport that now uses federal screeners will be able to seek a transition to private screeners beginning in November 2004, according to an opt-out clause in the Aviation Terrorism Security Act (ATSA). Due to the 2SR, TSA now controls the Federal Air Marshals program (Ramji-Nogales & Goldner, 2020). Armed undercover operatives are stationed in airports and on flights as part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Flight and Airport Security (FAMS) mission to identify, prevent, and defeat hostile activities against U.S. air carriers, airports, passengers, and crews.
Conclusion
This study has briefly described the functions of the four primary DHS agencies responsible for border security: CBP, ICE, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the TSA. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is tasked with safeguarding the nation’s borders, it is essential to highlight that several other federal agencies contribute to this challenging mission. Though it may not be their primary objective, they perform crucial roles in border security. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) includes the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles applications for resident status and citizenship as well as refugee status and refugee handling; the Department of State (DOS), which issues visas for travel to other countries; the Department of Agriculture (USDA), which creates the agricultural policies that CBP Inspectors enforce; the Department of Justice (DOJ), whose police departments branches (the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice Police) enforce federal law; and the Department of Agriculture (USDA State and local responders in border communities along the Canadian and Mexican frontiers play a significant role in border security activities.
References
Ramji-Nogales, J., & Goldner Lang, I. (2020). Freedom of movement, migration, and borders. Journal of Human Rights, 19(5), 593-602.
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