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'Research Service
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Powers
and Limitations: A Primer
Updated November 30, 2021
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a component of the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), enforces federal customs and immigration laws at or near the international border and at U.S.
ports of entry. Congress has established a comprehensive framework enabling CBP officers to inspect,
search, and detain individuals to ensure their entry and any goods they import conform to these governing
laws. That authority is not absolute. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits
government searches and seizures that are not reasonable. While the government has broader latitude to
conduct searches at the border than in the interior of the United States, these searches must still satisfy
Fourth Amendment requirements. This Legal Sidebar briefly explains CBP's customs and immigration
enforcement powers and the constitutional limitations to that authority. (A separate DHS component, U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE], is primarily responsible for immigration and customs
enforcement in the interior of the United States; a discussion of ICE's enforcement powers can be found
here.) Many topics covered in this Sidebar are more extensively discussed in CRS Report R46601,
Searches and Seizures at the Border and the Fourth Amendment, by Hillel R. Smith and Kelsey Y.
Santamaria.
Background
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 established CBP as the component within DHS mainly responsible
for protecting the nation's international borders through enforcing federal customs and immigration laws
(CBP also enforces other laws relating to the border, including those concerning the introduction of
harmful plant or animal species and public health requirements). CBP's customs powers derive from
those originally exercised by the U.S. Customs Service of the Department of the Treasury, while CBP's
immigration enforcement functions derive from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service of the
Department of Justice.
Within CBP, the Office of Field Operations (OFO) conducts inspections and enforces immigration and
customs laws at designated ports of entry. A separate CBP component, the U.S. Border Patrol, is
responsible for the apprehension of non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) and the interdiction of
illegally imported goods entering the United States between ports of entry.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB10559
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govegfw0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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