Customs and Border Protection Officers
Protective Service
Inspects people, cargo, and baggage entering or leaving the United States, and reviews visas, passports, and immigration applications to decide who may be admitted or travel. Interviews travelers, detains people who break customs or immigration law, and seizes undeclared merchandise or vehicles, aircraft, or boats that carry it. Explains the rules to travelers, shippers, and manufacturers, works with other agencies on civil or criminal cases, and may testify at immigration appeals or in federal court. Records findings, violations, and decisions. Suits people who like close document review, careful interviews, and making legal judgments that have to hold up later.
Typical education: High School Diploma or GED
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$76'210
Median Wage Market Position
$76'210
What you might do
- Check passports and visas at the border
- Interview travelers to decide who may enter
- Inspect bags and cargo for banned goods
- Seize hidden goods and undeclared items
- Detain people who break immigration or customs laws
- Explain customs rules to travelers and shippers
Skills that matter
- Interviews that test a traveler's story
- Close reading of visas and passports
- Admission decisions at the border
- Cargo and bag checks for contraband
- Customs-rule briefings for travelers
- Written logs of seizures and denials
AI & the future of this role
Screening tools may flag people and cargo faster, yet final decisions still hinge on inspection judgment, legal authority, and liability. Face-to-face enforcement at ports of entry tends to protect most of this role even as detection tech improves.
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Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details