Originally Posted by
enviroian
Flying today in BF lgw-iah-phx, I couldn't help but notice while walking through immigration I see that the US Immigration officers are armed. Why?? Anyone they encounter is coming off a security cleared flight. I guess I don't know why they are packing heat.
Probably to impress people or as extra deterrent (whether or not the armaments would actually be helpful in the situation). I've seen heavily armed people in other countries' airports as well (e.g. Canada, Hong Kong).