U.S. Customs Service
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | July 31, 1789 |
| Dissolved | March 1, 2003 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Parent agency | United States Department of the Treasury |
| Website | www.customs.gov |
The United States Customs Service was an agency of the U.S. federal government that collected import tariffs and performed other selected border security duties.
In March 2003, as a result of the homeland security reorganization, most of the U.S. Customs Service was merged with the border elements of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, including the entire U.S. Border Patrol and former INS inspectors, together with border agriculture inspectors, to form U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a single, unified border agency for the U.S. The investigative office of U.S. Customs was split off and merged with the INS investigative office and the INS interior detention and removal office to form Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which, among other things, is responsible for interior immigration enforcement. The United States Customs Service had three major missions: collecting tariff revenue, protecting the U.S. economy from smuggling and illegal goods, and processing people and goods at ports of entry.
Responding to the urgent need for revenue following the American Revolutionary War, the First United States Congress passed and President George Washington signed the Tariff Act of July 4, 1789, which authorized the collection of duties on imported goods. Four weeks later, on July 31, the fifth act of Congress established the United States Customs Service and its ports of entry.
As part of this new government agency, a new role was created for government officials which was known as "Customs Collector". In this role, one person would have responsibility to supervise the collection of custom duties in a particular city or region.
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