Will AI replace Customs and Border Protection Officers?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
28/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 44% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 10% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 43% of the work
What the job involves
Investigate and inspect persons, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the United States or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(1)
- Examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S.
Within reach(4)
- Interpret and explain laws and regulations to travelers, prospective immigrants, shippers, and manufacturers.
- Record and report job-related activities, findings, transactions, violations, discrepancies, and decisions.
- Determine duty and taxes to be paid on goods.
- Investigate applications for duty refunds and petition for remission or mitigation of penalties when warranted.
Out of reach(6)
- Detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation.
- Inspect cargo, baggage, and personal articles entering or leaving U.S. for compliance with revenue laws and U.S. customs regulations.
- Locate and seize contraband, undeclared merchandise, and vehicles, aircraft, or boats that contain such merchandise.
- Institute civil and criminal prosecutions and cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of those in violation of immigration or customs laws.
- Testify regarding decisions at immigration appeals or in federal court.
and 1 more
Also called
Import Specialist · Border Patrol Agent · Patrol Inspector · Canine Enforcement Officer (K-9 Enforcement Officer) · Customs Inspector · Customs Officer · Special Agent · US Customs and Border Protection Officer (US CBPO)
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics