Kenneth MacDonald, a retired Attaché/Supervisory Special Agent with HSI, noted on LinkedIn that there has been massive conflation and confusion of the functions of various Department of Homeland Security agencies with all the press coverage of the events in Minnesota. MacDonald noted, “CBP does not stand for Customs and Border Patrol. ICE ERO personnel are officers, not agents. Border Patrol is not ICE and vice versa.” Here is his primer:
CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
Role: Manages, controls, and protects U.S. borders and ports of entry.
Location: Border crossing checkpoints, airports, and between ports of entry.
Components: Includes CBP Field Operations and U.S. Border Patrol
Function: Inspects travelers, cargo, and conveyances entering the United States.
Office of Field Operations (CBP OFO) – blue uniforms
Role: CBP Officers function at the ports screening incoming individuals, cargo and conveyances. Prevents illegal entry of individuals, merchandise and contraband.
Border Patrol (USBP) – green uniforms
Role: Patrols U.S. northern and southern borders between ports of entry to the U.S. Prevents illegal entry of individuals, and contraband. Apprehends violators.
ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
Role: Enforces federal immigration and customs laws within the U.S. interior.
Location: Inside the United States, away from the border.
Components: Two divisions to include Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Operations
Function: Investigates and enforces customs and immigration violations. Apprehends violators and manages the detention and removal of individuals.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – plain clothes
Role: A criminal investigative division within ICE focused on transnational crimes. Second largest federal investigative agency.
Function: Investigates cross-border crime including human smuggling, drug trafficking, firearms and military technology trafficking, money laundering, trade fraud, cybercrime, child exploitation and intellectual property violations.
Enforcement and Removal Operations – (ERO) – plain clothes
Role: A law enforcement division within ICE focused on immigration enforcement.
Function: Identifies, arrests, detains, and removes undocumented immigrants and those with final orders of removal from the U.S. interior.
Summary of Interactions
CBP generally makes seizures and apprehensions at the border. Immigration violators are generally transferred to ICE ERO for detention and removal processing. Seizures of contraband and other violators are referred to HSI for processing and further criminal investigation and identification of networks and organizations.
Kenneth MacDonald has over 30 years of criminal investigative experience regarding cross border crimes with anexpertise in export control and counter-proliferation investigations. Mr. MacDonald was a Special Agent with the U.S. Customs Service and later with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). He served in numerous domestic locations and was the HSI Attaché in Vienna, Austria, responsible for all investigative operational activities in 13 Eastern European countries. Mr. MacDonald was also assigned as an enforcement subject matter expert to the National Security Council Task Force on Export Control Reform. Mr. MacDonald currently provides consultant services to commercial companies engaged in the export of controlled and sensitive technologies.