How Customs and Border Protection is upping its role in immigration arrests

Most of the attention on President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda has focused on one agency: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which signed partnerships with hundreds of regional law enforcement groups and has drawn the ire of protesters nationwide.

But increasingly, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has taken a lead role in Trump’s immigration policies, even miles from U.S. borders.

One of the largest law enforcement organizations in the world, with more than 60,000 employees, Customs and Border Protection is charged with keeping “terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. while facilitating lawful international travel and trade,” according to a mission statement.

This year, it has received more than $28 billion in additional funding for border enforcement, including $7 billion for officers and vehicles, $5 billion for agency checkpoints and facilities and $6.2 billion for border surveillance and technology.

Agency leaders say they are ramping up to do even more in Florida in the coming months.

Here is a rundown of what the agency does and how the force is shaping the nation’s crackdown on immigration. The Tampa Bay Times reached out to a spokesperson through text messages about its operations for this story but did not hear back.

How is Customs and Border Protection different from Immigration and Customs Enforcement?

Customs and Border Protection focuses on protecting U.S. land, air and sea borders and controlling the flow of goods across the border. It has agents stationed at 328 U.S. ports of entry, including airports, seaports and land border crossings, where they screen cargo, packages and foreign visitors.

U.S. Border Patrol is an arm of Customs and Border Protection. The agency includes field, air and marine operations, as well as tactical units.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is tasked with identifying, arresting and deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally. They also conduct operations to combat transnational crime and partner with local law enforcement agencies, as they have throughout Florida.

How are the agencies working together?

They share information, collaborate on operations and conduct joint task forces. But they are reportedly becoming more intertwined.

Last month, Customs and Border Protection leaders began taking over high-level leadership roles in the federal government’s deportation effort. Several news outlets have reported that the coordination between the agencies signals a shift in approach to more aggressively arrest and deport more immigrants in larger sweeps.

Where can Customs and Border Protection operate? Isn’t it just at the border?

The agency can operate throughout all 50 states and territories. Its agents have broad power and discretion to detain and question individuals they believe have committed a crime.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 allows agents to board any vehicle or vessel within 100 air miles of an external U.S. boundary. This includes all international land borders and the entire U.S. coastline, plus many major cities and the entire states of Florida and Maine. About 213 million people live within this zone, or two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to immigrant rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Immigration and Nationality Act allows agents to “operate checkpoints and to question occupants of vehicles about their citizenship, request document proof of immigration status, and make quick observations of what is in plain view in the interior of the vehicle,” according to the agency. That power has been affirmed by several court cases.

Immigration advocates and some legal groups question the constitutionality of the provision, arguing that the way Border Patrol agents conduct searches conflicts with the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from random and arbitrary searches.

Border Patrol agents and immigration officers are barred from arresting anyone without probable cause. Advocates, including the ACLU, have argued agents do it anyway, though the government has contested this.

Are Border Patrol agents taking a larger role in recent immigration arrests?

Yes. Customs and Border Protection has conducted sweeping operations that have lasted several weeks, most recently in North Carolina and Chicago, where border agents arrested more than 3,000 people.

Customs and Border Protection senior commander Greg Bovino has been at the helm of these high-profile operations, noting in media interviews that the Border Patrol will continue to patrol cities across the country.

Earlier this month, Michael Banks, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, said in an interview with Newsmax that 2,000 agents have deployed to 25 cities for immigration efforts.

What’s happening in Florida?

Customs and Border Protection agents are partnering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Florida, too.

The agency said earlier this month that Florida soon will be getting more Customs and Border Protection agents, according to the Miami Herald.

There are six Border Patrol stations located within Florida’s regional Customs and Border Protection district, which also includes Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

The Miami Herald reported earlier this month that the agency will permanently station more agents in the Miami sector, a 110% increase. The agency did not specify how many new agents would be stationed in Florida or how many currently here are focused on immigration.

Customs and Border Protection recently said it turned away a migrant smuggling vessel off the coast of Juno Beach in Palm Beach County, saying that effort prevented 12 people from illegally entering the United States.

In September, a multiday operation in Central Florida that involved Border Patrol agents led to 400 arrests.

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