U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Summary
CBP runs on $23.9 billion and 65,882 people for FY2026 -- about $69.94 per U.S. resident -- to process $9.8 billion in imports and 1.1 million travelers on a typical day, while still losing an estimated $2.5 billion a year to duty misclassification: the Good Citizen series' entry on the agency born from the 2003 merger of Customs, Border Patrol, and immigration inspectors.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
On a typical FY2025 day, processed 1,138,130 passengers and pedestrians, 262,013 vehicles, and 137,217 merchandise entries worth $9.8 billion, collecting $618 million in duties, taxes, and fees⧉ -- work that scales over a year to more than $3.35 trillion in imports and over $200 billion in duties and fees collected⧉. The same average day it seized 1,598 pounds of drugs, including 33 pounds of fentanyl, and logged 696 enforcement encounters between ports of entry⧉.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Congress funded at $23.9 billion in total budget authority for FY2026 under a continuing resolution⧉ -- appropriated funds plus fee accounts like COBRA customs fees and the Immigration Inspection User Fee -- supporting 65,882 full-time-equivalent staff of 69,401 authorized positions. The pending FY2027 request would cut that to $22.9 billion while growing FTE to 67,076⧉ as more positions shift onto fees. Against the Census Bureau's 341.8 million U.S. residents⧉ as of July 2025, that's about $69.94 per person.
View data as table
| FY2025 (Full-Year CR) | 23.1 | 66,169 FTE |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 (Annualized CR) | 23.9 | 65,882 FTE |
| FY2027 (President's Budget request) | 22.9 | 67,076 FTE |
Why is it good for society?
's own history says its 2003 consolidation let it "develop seamless security procedures"⧉ instead of splitting travelers and cargo across agencies. That machinery is imperfect but measured: in FY2025 collected 98.75 percent of import duties, taxes, and fees owed, against a 99 percent target, after an estimated $2.5 billion was lost -- mostly to importers misclassifying goods to dodge antidumping and countervailing duties⧉. Without an agency positioned to measure that gap, it would go undetected, let alone billed.
- 's FY2026 total budget authority ($23.9 billion, 65,882 ) blends appropriated funds with fee-funded accounts; the FY2027 request would cut the dollar total to $22.9 billion while growing to 67,076 as more positions shift onto fees.
- On a typical FY2025 day processed $9.8 billion in imports and 1.1 million travelers while collecting 98.75% of duties owed -- short of a 99% target by an estimated $2.5 billion lost mostly to misclassification.
Your handles.* Submit a question, compliment, complaint, or tip about a encounter through the CBP Information Center (877--5511). To report a suspected trade violation -- misclassified goods, forced labor, IPR fraud -- use 's e-Allegations Trade Violation Reporting form.
Sources(4) ▾
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Budget Overview -- Fiscal Year 2027 Congressional Justification (2026-04-03) — 's own FY2027 congressional budget justification -- the most current dated summary of 's budget authority and staffing across FY2025 (Full-Year CR), FY2026 (Annualized CR), and FY2027 (President's Budget request), plus 's own performance-measure tables (import-revenue collection rate) and mission narrative ($3.35 trillion in imports, $200 billion+ in duties and fees). Source for this entry's budget/ KPIs, the multi-year chart, the annual trade-scale figure, and the revenue-collection mechanism paragraph. dhs.gov · original document
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, A Summary of CBP, Facts, and Figures (CBP Snapshot, FY2025 data) (2026-05-02) — 's own official facts-and-figures one-pager, giving the agency's account of its 2003 formation/consolidation, its headquarters address, and a FY2025 typical-day workload table (travelers, vehicles, merchandise entries, duties collected, drug seizures, enforcement encounters). Source for this entry's identity paragraph, the consolidation-mechanism quote, and the typical-day workload figures in section 2. cbp.gov · original document
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, March 1, 2003: CBP is Born (2016-10-13) — 's own official history page, narrating the Homeland Security Act of 2002's passage and the March 1, 2003 transfer date that merged the Customs Service, Border Patrol, immigration inspectors, and agricultural inspectors into . Source for this entry's founding/statutory-basis paragraph. cbp.gov · original document
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration (Vintage 2025 national population estimate) (2026-01-27) — The Census Bureau's own Vintage 2025 national population estimate release, giving the U.S. resident population as of July 1, 2025 -- the per-resident denominator for this entry's cost-per-person KPI, per better_metrics.md's sourced-denominator discipline. census.gov · original document
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection was formed on March 1, 2003, when the Homeland Security Act of 2002 folded the U.S. Customs Service, the Border Patrol, immigration inspectors, and USDA's agricultural inspectors into one agency inside the new Department of Homeland Security⧉. Before , those roles sat in separate organizations; the consolidation let it develop seamless security procedures⧉ instead of routing travelers and cargo through separate checks. It is headquartered at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, DC⧉, working every land crossing, airport, and seaport.