What agencies fall under cbp
Executive summary
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the Department of Homeland Security component that unifies multiple border functions into one agency; its principal operational elements include the Office of Field Operations (OFO), the United States Border Patrol (USBP), and Air and Marine Operations (AMO), and it also houses customs, trade and agricultural protection functions that were merged into CBP in 2003 [1] [2] [3].
1. Office of Field Operations: the ports-of-entry force
The Office of Field Operations is CBP’s front-line at airports, seaports and land ports of entry and includes CBP Officers and Agriculture Specialists who process people and goods, enforce customs and immigration law at ports, and carry out agricultural inspections to prevent pests and diseases from entering the United States [3] [1].
2. United States Border Patrol: the tactical land border arm
The United States Border Patrol is the CBP component responsible for patrolling and securing the nearly 7,000 miles of land border with Canada and Mexico and coastal areas, deploying agents across the borderlands to detect and deter unlawful crossings and smuggling [4] [5].
3. Air and Marine Operations: aviation and maritime enforcement
Air and Marine Operations operates CBP’s aviation and maritime assets to interdict illegal movement of people, drugs, weapons and contraband in the air and maritime domain, conducting joint operations with other DHS components and providing aviation/marine support to federal, state, tribal and local agencies [3] [6].
4. Specialized units and tactical teams inside CBP
Within the larger operational components are specialized tactical units and rapid-response teams—examples cited in CBP and DHS reporting include BORTAC (a Border Patrol tactical unit) and Mobile Response Teams—units trained for high-risk, time-sensitive incidents and to support major events along U.S. borders [7].
5. CBP’s broader functional offices and provenance
Beyond the strictly operational elements, CBP contains trade, strategy, intelligence and policy functions and traces its institutional origins to a 2003 consolidation that brought together customs functions, immigration inspectors and the Border Patrol (from the former INS) and certain agricultural inspection roles (from APHIS), creating the unified border entity described on CBP and federal pages [2] [1] [4].
6. What CBP is not and who it coordinates with
CBP is a DHS component focused on border enforcement, trade and travel facilitation; it is distinct from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has separate missions such as interior immigration enforcement and investigations, although the agencies coordinate on operations and investigations [8] [6]. CBP also partners with the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal and local agencies for maritime and border security missions [4] [6].
7. Caveats, dissenting narratives and reporting limits
Public reporting and oversight have highlighted controversies and accountability challenges within CBP’s components—including policing tactics and alleged misconduct tied to deployments of certain tactical units—but the sources provided here document the agency structure and responsibilities rather than adjudicate every allegation; a full organizational chart and the complete list of CBP offices are published on CBP’s site and in its org chart document referenced by the agency [9] [2] [1]. If a reader seeks every subordinate office name or internal directorates (trade, intelligence, strategy, field leadership, etc.), the CBP organization chart is the definitive source [9].