APHIS Factsheet

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service January 2008

USDA’s Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service

and DHS’ Customs and 

Border Protection: 

Working Together to 

Protect Agriculture

On November, 21, 2002, President Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS) to unify Federal forces and protect our Nation 

from terrorist threats. More than 22 Federal agencies 

were consolidated into the new department, including portions of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 

(USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

(APHIS).

 After a long and distinguished history in USDA, 

approximately 2,500 employees from APHIS’ Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection (AQI) force became 

part of DHS’ Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on 

March 1, 2003.

 

Border Security

Since 2003, CBP has carried out the Nation’s critical 

port-of-entry inspections. CBP is responsible for conducting inspections to protect our borders from foreign 

pest and disease introductions, and APHIS continues 

to set the regulations governing agricultural imports. 

The cooperation between the two agencies has 

enabled the AQI program to advance and meet new 

challenges in the growing global marketplace. This 

unique arrangement has increased the overall inspection force that ensures compliance with USDA/APHIS 

regulations, and it also has enabled APHIS to focus 

on strengthening its other activities in the safeguarding 

system.

 CBP’s agricultural specialists receive the same 

amount of agriculture-specific training as the specialists who were previously part of APHIS’ workforce. An 

8-week training program, conducted by APHIS instructors, ensures that they are fully prepared for their role 

at the border. 

 In addition to traditional agricultural 

enforcement, CBP agricultural specialists play a 

crucial role in educating other CBP officers about the 

agriculture inspection process, thus enhancing the 

agricultural knowledge of all personnel at U.S. ports of

entry. The deployment of both agricultural specialists 

and cross-trained CBP officers to search for agricultural threats has increased the field force available to 

the AQI program.

Agricultural Policy

Through risk assessments, pathway analyses, and 

rulemaking activities, APHIS continues to set agricultural policy concerning what agricultural products 

can enter the country and what products pose a risk 

and should be kept out. In addition to setting policy, 

APHIS also conducts technical and risk-based 

agricultural functions, including:

• Gathering pest and disease information overseas 

 and analyzing the data;

• Negotiating protocols with trading partners;

• Performing preclearance inspections of certain 

 goods destined for the United States from certain 

 countries;

• Conducting inspections of passengers, bag- 

 gage, conveyances, and cargo to prevent the 

 movement of pests from Hawaii and Puerto Rico 

 into the continental United States;

• Inspecting living plants imported through 17 

 APHIS-operated plant inspection stations 

 located at various ports-of-entry;

• Conducting fumigation and other treatments when 

 protocols require;

• Performing pest identification of USDA as well as 

 CBP finds;

• Taking enforcement actions against violators of 

 U.S. agricultural import regulations;

• Conducting a smuggling, interdiction, and trade 

 compliance function to trace and close pathways 

 for illegal imports that evade the existing agricul- 

 tural protection system; and 

• Training CBP inspectors, front-line CBP 

 inspectors, and CBP agricultural canine teams. 

Continued Cooperation

APHIS and CBP are committed to working in partnership to safeguard American agriculture by detecting 

and preventing harmful plant and animal pest and 

disease introductions. As part of this commitment, 

APHIS and CBP have formed a task force to address 

the concerns of agricultural stakeholders, as well as 

issues raised about the AQI program in reports from 

the Government Accountability Office and USDA’s 

Office of the Inspector General. The joint task force 

developed 10 comprehensive action plans that contain 
United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, 

national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital 

status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, 

genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part 

of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance 

program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons 

with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720–2600 (voice 

and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, 

Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W. , 

Washington , D.C. 20250–9410 , or call (800) 795–3272 (voice) or 

(202) 720–6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and 

employer. 

recommendations for both agencies that are already 

strengthening the delivery of the overall agricultural 

mission.

 APHIS and CBP both take very seriously the 

shared mission of protecting the United States from 

foreign plant pests and animal diseases, as well 

as securing our country against unintentional and 

intentional threats to our agriculture and food supply. 

Through the efforts put forth by the joint task force and 

the plans that have been established, APHIS and CBP 

will make significant strides, not only in the near future, 

but in the long term, to further protect U.S. agriculture.

Additional Information

To learn more about APHIS or CBP, please visit the 

APHIS Web site at www.aphis.usda.gov or the CBP 

Web site at www.cbp.gov. For more information on 

the activities of the APHIS–CBP joint taskforce, go to 

www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/aqi_mission.shtml.