CBPGuy
7 Years Experience
SouthWest, US
Male, 25
I am a U. S. Customs and Border Protection Officer on the southwest border between Mexico and the United States. I know the ins and outs of the job as seen on TV/News and things intentionally hidden from the media! There's more to this job than "Anything to declare?" I dont know all but I'll do my best to answer any questions you have! All answers are my opinion, and my opinion only!
U.S. Customs & Border Protection has a lot more authority than local law enforcement. By crossing the international border, the Fourth Amendment makes an exception for warrant-less searches in regards to our Border Search Authority which can be found in the United States Code. Basically, we do not need a warrant for ANY types of searches we conduct on the border as long as a reasonable officer believes they should do so. So no, we do not need a warrant.
This may be a little hard to hear, but we are basically trained that every alien entering the country is guilty until proven innocent. This is not in a sense as a criminal, but in a sense that we must assume that they are all trying to immigrate here unless they can prove to the officer that they will not. Now, i was not there for your situation with your brother, but it seems like the officer believed your brother was intending to immigrate (live) in the US. Aliens can be denied entry solely based on an officer's suspicion alone. That doesn't happen often, but is completely legal and is written in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
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Im not sure about the bomb dogs. I dont know which officer's have those because I mostly deal with the narcotics dogs. What I do know about the narcotics dogs is that some are trained for just narcotics and some are trained for narcotics and humans.
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CBP is not a bad career to be a lifer in. Benefits are incredible, pay is even better. There are certainly are a lot of lifers here. The thing people dont know is that there is a lot more to do with this agency than process travelers and ask "Where are you going? What are you bringing?" We have intelligence duties, cargo screening, canine, training with INTERPOL, etc. When an CBP Officer changes careers, usually its to a Special Agent position within the federal government. The easiest transition is usually with Homeland Security Investigations (former ICE). Besides HSI, CBP Officers will transition over to Special Agent in FBI, DEA, ATF, etc.
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From the information you gave me, you do not have a criminal record. The officer's may have believed your story and there was not enough evidence to charge you. However, you will have a record on our database. This means, every time you interact with CBP, the officer will see that you were transporting an imposter.
Outside of crossing the border, this situation wont affect you at all!
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I've discussed with Co workers this very topic over the years, and these are the top reasons that I gathered from them, which I also completely agree with as well.
In no particular order:1. Job security. The federal government always pays it's employees and always keeps them employed. It's very rare that a government shutdown happens, but after its all over we still get our paycheck. I have a lot of local cop friends who get nervous about pay cuts and fear being given a pink slip, especially those in small towns.
2. Pay. We are one of the highest, if not THE highest paid, law enforcement agency in the country. After 3 to 4 years, base pay is $75k. With overtime and differentials that adds to about $120k. That's just 4 years on the job..
3. Location. So yea the first few years might suck on the land border, but once you gain some seniority there's many beautiful places around the world where u can temporarily or permanently move to. Places like Dubai, Hawaii, the Bahamas, England, Ireland, Aruba.
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I think the most creative way I've personally seen was crystal meth hidden inside kinder eggs.
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After the academy you have ZERO say. When you apply for the job, you can apply for a geographical location. Some of them include Southwest border, Northwest, North East, South East, Florida, etc. When you get "the call" to get hired, they offer an unspecified amount of Port of Entries in that geographical location to pick from. After you pick it, your stuck with it until you do a port swap with another officer (after your fully trained) or re apply and start from scratch. You cannot ask for land border or airport. You can only pick what they offer.
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