CBP Partnerships and Interagency Coordination

U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not operate as a self-contained enforcement agency. Its mission — controlling the movement of people, goods, and conveyances across 328 official ports of entry and thousands of miles of land and maritime border — requires active coordination with dozens of federal, state, local, tribal, and international entities. This page covers the definition and scope of CBP's partnership framework, the operational mechanisms through which coordination occurs, the scenarios that most commonly trigger interagency collaboration, and the boundaries that determine which agency leads a given enforcement action.

Definition and scope

CBP's partnership and interagency coordination framework refers to the formal and informal arrangements through which CBP shares authority, intelligence, personnel, infrastructure, and legal jurisdiction with other governmental bodies. These arrangements are grounded in statute and formalized through memoranda of understanding (MOUs), joint task force charters, data-sharing agreements, and programmatic frameworks established under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107–296), which created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and positioned CBP as one of its primary operational components.

The scope of these partnerships spans four distinct levels:

1. Federal interagency — coordination with other DHS components (ICE, TSA, USCIS, FEMA), as well as non-DHS agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI, ATF, Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Agriculture (USDA/APHIS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of State.
2. State and local law enforcement — coordination with state police, county sheriffs, and municipal departments, often formalized through the 287(g) program administered jointly with ICE, or through joint task forces.
3. Tribal nations — coordination with tribal law enforcement agencies along border corridors that cross or adjoin tribal lands, governed by agreements with individual tribal governments.
4. International — coordination with foreign customs, immigration, and border agencies, addressed separately under CBP International Cooperation.

The full operational scope of CBP — the number of ports, workforce size, and budget authority — is documented on the CBP authority and scope overview.

How it works

Coordination between CBP and partner agencies follows structured channels rather than ad hoc communication. The primary mechanisms include:

Joint Task Forces (JTFs): CBP participates in and sometimes leads joint task forces that collocate officers from multiple agencies at a single command structure. The DHS-established Joint Task Force–West (JTF-W), for example, integrates CBP, ICE, and Coast Guard assets to address cross-border threats along the southwest border and in adjacent maritime zones. Task force participation is governed by charters that define lead agency authority, funding responsibility, and data ownership.

Intelligence sharing via fusion centers: CBP connects to the national network of 80 state and locally operated fusion centers recognized by DHS (DHS State and Local Fusion Centers), as well as to the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), a multi-agency intelligence hub focused on drug trafficking and border security that CBP co-funds alongside DEA, FBI, and DoD.

Automated data systems: The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) serves as a single electronic platform connecting CBP with 47 Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) that have independent authority over imported goods — including FDA, EPA, USDA, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). When a shipment triggers an admissibility hold from one of these agencies, CBP coordinates the hold and release decision through ACE without requiring the importer to interact separately with each agency.

Trusted Traveler and cargo security programs: The C-TPAT program and the Trusted Traveler Programs (NEXUS, SENTRI, Global Entry) involve data-sharing and vetting partnerships with CBP Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and INTERPOL databases.

Section 287(g) agreements: Under 8 U.S.C. § 1357(g), CBP and ICE can delegate specific immigration enforcement authorities to trained state and local law enforcement officers. As of the most recent DHS reporting, ICE holds active 287(g) agreements with more than 150 law enforcement agencies across the country (ICE 287(g) Program), and CBP coordinates closely with those jurisdictions at or near port locations.

Common scenarios

The following scenarios illustrate where interagency coordination is most operationally significant:

• Drug interdiction at ports: When CBP officers discover narcotics during a secondary inspection, DEA agents are typically notified and may assume investigative jurisdiction over the case while CBP retains custody of the shipment and documentation. The seizure is recorded in the Seized Assets and Case Tracking System (SEACATS), a shared DEA–CBP platform.

• Agricultural and food safety intercepts: When CBP agriculture specialists identify a pest, pathogen, or restricted plant material under CBP prohibited and restricted items authority, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) determines the required disposition — fumigation, destruction, or re-exportation. CBP enforces the physical hold; APHIS controls the technical outcome.

• Forced labor enforcement actions: Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), Pub. L. 117–78 (2021), CBP issues withhold release orders (WROs) in coordination with the Interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, which includes the Department of Labor, Department of State, and the Office of the United States Trade Representative. The task force provides intelligence and country-level analysis; CBP executes the port-level trade enforcement action.

• National security referrals: When a traveler or cargo manifest generates a match against a terrorist watchlist maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) — a multi-agency body administered by the FBI — CBP coordinates with TSA and FBI field offices before making an admissibility determination.

Decision boundaries

Not all coordination results in joint decision-making. CBP retains certain unilateral authorities that partner agencies cannot override:

CBP leads, partner agencies advise: Admissibility determinations for travelers are exclusively CBP's authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1225. Another federal agency can request that CBP detain or question a traveler, but the final border admissibility decision rests with CBP officers and supervisors. Similarly, under CBP enforcement authority and legal powers, the search and seizure authorities CBP exercises within the border search exception are not contingent on another agency's concurrent approval.

Partner agency leads, CBP enforces the hold: For FDA-regulated food and drug imports, FDA determines admissibility under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. § 381). CBP physically prevents the goods from entering commerce but cannot override an FDA release decision, nor can CBP unilaterally release goods that FDA has placed on detention.

Shared authority with defined handoff points: In criminal investigations, CBP's search and seizure authority permits initial detention and evidence preservation at the border. Once a criminal case is opened, prosecutorial authority passes to the relevant U.S. Attorney's Office, and investigative lead typically transfers to FBI, DEA, HSI (Homeland Security Investigations), or another agency with primary jurisdiction over the underlying offense.

This lead-agency distinction matters operationally: it determines which agency controls evidence chains, who presents the case to prosecutors, and which agency's budget absorbs the cost of extended enforcement actions.