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CBP became an official agency of the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003, combining employees from the Department of Agriculture, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Border Patrol and the U.S. Customs Service. Unifying the border agencies combines skills and resources to improve the way the U.S. Government manages the border. For the first time in our nation's history, people and goods arriving at American ports of entry are greeted by one single agency with one unified goal: to facilitate legitimate trade and travel while utilizing all of the resources at our disposal to protect and defend the United States. From inception in 1789 until 1923, the U.S. Customs Service yielded the highest revenue for the U.S. Government. CBP is currently the second largest source of government revenue after the I.R.S. The CBP has over 40,000 employees including inspectors, canine enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents, trade specialists and mission support staff. The protected territory covers the 5,252 mile Canadian border, the 1,989 mile Mexican border, 95,000 miles of coastline, 429 commercial airports, 300 land border ports of entry and 300 sea ports of entry. More recenty the CBP has began expanding the security zone beyond physical borders so that American borders are the last line of defense, not the first. To that end, the 24-hour rule became effective in December, 2002 which requires an advance cargo declaration from sea carriers. In February, 2003, enforcement of the rule began. The initial phase focused on significant violations of the cargo description requirement. Vague cargo terms such as "freight of all kinds," "said to contain," "consolidated cargo," "general merchandise," and "various retail merchandise" are no longer accepted. Containerized cargo with this type of description was issued a "Do Not Load" message while still in the foreign port. If cargo was loaded without prior approval by CBP, the container was denied permit to unlade at all U.S. ports. While statistics indicate that CBP apprehends more federal and state
fugitives than any other agency, recent terrorist activities have caused
a shift in priorities from drug enforcement to weapons of mass destruction
and attention to shipment to/from embargo countries. Other areas of
focus include: With limited resources to cover a vast territory while enforcing over 400 laws, CBP looks to carriers, freight forwarders and exporters for informed compliance. Washam advised UniGroup UTS Operations staff to remain informed and work closely with Customs to ensure compliance. “If it doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t” Washam said. HQ Staff and our global network are encouraged to call CBP for guidance on how to handle a situation. For more information, Customs has posted a "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) section at: http://www.cbp.gov. |
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