border patrol agent

customs officer

agent

air import agent

transporter

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

I am the shop first employee to arrive and the last to leave. I am very dedicated to my work to ensure its done correctly. I do believe that you take care of the company it will take care of you. I have about 50 pieces of Heavy Equipment that the mechanics take care of and which the Heavy Equipment Operators use to do minior road repairs. We all work an 8 hour day and occasionally do a wrecker run to retreive a disabled vehicle after working hours. I creat work orders for the mechanics and spot check the parts being orderd by the mechanics. Assist the mechanic in the repairs if needed and reconcile the work orders and parts purchased are correct then close the work order to complete the process. Hold quarterly safety meetings with the entire garage staff to ensure we are all adhering to the safety policies that the US Border Partol has in place and to discuss any present issues in the shop. The co workers are great to get along with no problems there and the toughest part of the job is chasing all of the receipts that do not get turned in when I get to reconcilie the credit card statments.
The best part of my job is the benifits package that allows me to save money in my 401 and the security of health benifits for my family. I am currently living 3 hours from my residence and work there 5 days a week and go home on the weekend so I am trying to get the whole package together for the balane of work and family time. I am trying to get back to the west central Texas area so I will not be too far from home. I am a certified welder for SMAW 6G pipe structural and 3G & 4G plate structural test. I look at myself as an asset to any company that I am affiliated with
; as an employee or customer service repesentative.

.   The day begins by.having an assignment in primary inspections or secondary inspections.  In primary you would inspect all passengers in your line seeking admission into the U.S.  This entails inspection all passports for validity  and or counterfeit..making.  You are also looking .for those persons who are overstays or persons who are out of status under the visa they are using, F-1 B-1 B-2 etc.
    In secondary you make a determination of an individuals admissibility based upon the referral from the primary inspector.  If the subject is admisable.you admit them.  If not you either .defer them to the district office or...based on the documents presented declare them inadmissible to enter the U.S.  This then requires a charge of..212 .7A.(I)(I)(1) intending Immigrant or immigrant without the proper documents. 
   I learned that people will do or say anything to enter the U.S  They all have hidden agendas and each case is different
   Since the merger of Immigration and Customs. It has been one sided being that Customs took over Immigration and knows nothing about it.  They continue to make mistakes because they refuse to seek the input of legacy Immigration officials.
   Great bonds with the legacy Immigration inspectors .  This made the job enjoyable,
   The hardest. part of the job was being under staffed with trained well seasoned officers after the merger.
    The most enjoyable part of the job was knowing I was protecting our borders from .terrorist and those who .were .here to cause problems in the U.S.  Protecting my country.

Very Enjoyable. Taught me how better to communicate with he public and people  in the working environment. How to be a team member and a team leader. Learned all about smuggling trends to include history. Developed my 6th sense. Learned about dedication to duty, integrity and Honor. I have learned to respect Supervisors and Management and also became one. Was blessed to travel and work at other stations to include, Nogales Arizona, Deming New Mexico and Savannah GA. One of my best assignments was being assigned to Brunswick GA for a total of three years as a Instructor for U.S. Customs and Homeland Security. I have had the opportunity to work with local Law Enforcement Officers through out  the years and gained very important knowledge and learned new safety and Law Enforcement Techniques to better Instruct my fellow Federal Customs Officers. Learned in great detail how to shoot many different types of weapons and became a sharp Shooter. As a leader learned how to motivate all the officers under my Command. Training was always second to none. Had a chance to receive advanced weapon training. I have interceptive Narcotics in large numbers and due to that I have received Five Hundred Dollars in Bonus money, also received a paid vocation from the Customs Service to Burbean St LI. Hotel accommodations for three days  along with free airfare. I have met and talked with the Commissioner Of Customs when I was station at Columbus New Mexico Port Of Entry.

Typical day at work is the research, analysis, and determination of the correct classification value, description of merchandise coming in from all countries, review and verify the correct quantities of merchandise coming into the U.S. together with manifests declared. Verification of visa/lquota;  liquidation of entry summaries; review/verify documents and electronic submissions for accuracy and completeness prior to release of merchandise. 

A difficult part of job was to request CBP laboratory tests samples and apply or use lab results and reports regarding commodity characteristics in order to classify merchandise and/or determine safety compliance. Also, I referred a shipment of a chemical for intensive examination with Trade Sensitive Team due to Importer non compliance with EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

I have learned to verify Country of Origin on merchandise and determine its admissibility and evaluate/verify the legitimacy of county of origin claim.

One of my enjoyable part of the job was going out with the Team to investigate and open containers at the Devanning Stations...

A hard working law enforcement agency with mostly very decent people with worthwhile goals,trying to accomplish the mission of CBP. A typical day at work was basically not work in the bad sense of thinking about it but to me it was fun, the most fun I've ever had on a job because I was working in the Analytic Unit targeting criminal activity and potential criminal activity from known linkages and linkages found in further personal research to seizures and arrests made around the globe, brought to our attention by being on inbound/outbound flights or from lookouts and alerts posted by ICE Special Agents  I now realize the the most enjoyable and productive time of my life was using targeting tools and technology to make signifiicant  contributions to drug, money laundering, and DTO  enforcement in general with lookouts that produced positive results from good research information in the Analytic Unit. The job was not really hard in any sense of the word and everyone in my Analytic Unit worked well together toward the common goal of significant enforcement results for the team. 

Working with CBP has proven to be a most rewarding opportunity. 
The opportunity to advance has been limited only to the amount of initiative and work one is willing to engage in. I have had an incredible variety of roles tapping into previous skills that I never thought I could apply in the role I was hired for. I have operated heavy equipment, welded, programmed encryption into radios, designed proximity sensors, provided technical assistance in security devices, trained bicycle patrol agents, conducted pursuit driving courses, and much much more. In every instance, managers were receptive to advance anyone who had anything to contribute in any capacity. 

My conception of government had steadily changed since I began taking on such a variety of roles that were unrelated to my job description, but ultimately contributed to our mission. It has been rewarding and eye opening to work in CBP as a Border Patrol Agent and later as an Air Enforcement Agent.

The CAD division is a very young program and suffers from steady management problems. There are a lot of talented people employed in this division but many have big egos that get in the way of teaching and growing new talent. Instead the program pays high salaries to take talent away from other government agencies. Sadly those people are not always treated well once they make the switch. There is no sense of team in the office environments. Asking questions is often seen as a negative. Lunch is 30 minutes which you are "required" to take but you are called out if you take more than 15 minutes. Lots of travel/work opportunities. 

Huge variation between the way offices and regional sections are run. If you are thinking of taking a job in this division, work your contacts to find out the offices to avoid before completing your application.

Tech support for US Customs and Border Protection/Department of Homeland Security
Prioritize and escalate tickets as needed
Answer and resolve 80-100 calls per day in a timely manner
Explained the benefits about our Trusted Traveler program (Global Entry, Nexus, Sentri) to all customers and CBP Officers.
Gather as much information as possible, then analyze the symptoms and define the underlying problem
First line of communication support via phone, email and chat
Able to identify and organize tickets according to priority
Maintains log of all worked preformed and processed, and turned in to supervisor by the end of the day
Able to react to change productively and handle other essential task as assigned
Must maintain confidentiality
Ability to meet deadlines
Ability to provide all officers and members with outstanding customer care and service at all times

If you take this job you will be a number in a spreadsheet to management, and unless you make friends in management will be stuck with the "subpar" tasks and assignments. The training you receive is inadequate to cover the wide range of circumstances encountered in the job, and a large portions of it is not applicable depending on if you are assigned to a land border or airport. There is also frequent hyping up of the job being a $100,000 a year job, but what is always left out of that is the amount of overtime you would have to work to achieve that. There is frequent unexpected overtime, which can often be double shifts with as little as an hour notice. Especially towards the end of the fiscal year, where management will start forcing all employees to do back to back overtime to pad out the overtime budget for the upcoming year. You will have no life outside of work, so if you end up taking this job, make sure to go into it with an exit strategy in mind.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Great opportunity for journeyman with minimum 15-20 years plus experience with industry 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Setting up system and processing with apps & ERPs yourself 
Then mentoring team with the details while accomplishing the tasks 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Leadership and experience, are crucial on all aspects 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
5am start tracking progress and update ERPs 
By 8 am, meetings and analysis of results 
11am, maintaining BOMs & specifications outlined 
1pm, updating team on progress and adjustments 
3pm, direct contact with design team and purchasing department 
5pm, initiate 48 hrs schedule of process & time line 
7pm, overseas team meetings and updating 
Hybrid or on sight or traveling- time line is pretty much the same (must be on location once a month at fabrication & production)

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Border patrol agent 30747 salaries reported	$70,349 per year
Customs officer 11834 salaries reported	$88,058 per year
Agent 31 salaries reported	$107,494 per year
Air import agent 24 salaries reported	$110,161 per year
Transporter 15 salaries reported	$40.14 per hour

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