Some of the challenges face by the U.S Customs and borders protection agents attempting to secure the border is dealing with drug smugglers and the drug cartels they work for. This is in my opinion their biggest challenge because the drug cartel have come up with so many different ways to bring drug across the border from using people called mules so swallow the drugs and bring them across and putting them in all areas of car/trucks to bring into the U.S. like the wheel wells, inside the doors, seats, and hidden compartments. The functional equivalent of the border is the territorial boundaries of the United States through the land, air, and sea. This will also include the United States areas of international access like international airports, …show more content…
It has long been established that border crossers’ reasonable expectation of privacy is lower at the border because they generally expect border guards to search persons and property for any possible contraband. Because this is usually common knowledge, border crossers are put on notice when approaching a border that a search may be imminent, and thus their privacy is “less invaded by [border] searches” when they occur. Thus, routine searches do not violate the Fourth Amendment simply because they occur at the border. Moreover, courts consider routine border searches to be permissible because they are administered to a class of people (international travelers) and are not used to target certain individuals of certain race, creed, color, or religion. “the primary purpose of a search by Customs officers is not to apprehend persons or to enforce criminal laws but to insure that duties are collected, that goods entered or leaving comply with U.S. laws and to seize for forfeiture goods unlawfully imported/exported and unreported monetary instruments in excess of $10,000.quote” (CBP, p.4,