Originally Posted by
law dawg
This is partially correct and partially incorrect.
They are both in the CBP.
The main difference isn't where they work, it's the laws they enforce. A CBP officer in the airport utilizes exclusions to keep people out, whereas a BP agent is dealing with someone who has already made an entry (albeit an illegal one) and must therefore use deportation statutes or some form of voluntary return (VR).
So in San Juan, where the officers stand on the jetway and inquire about the citizenship of passengers boarding a flight to New York, which function are they performing? It's a domestic flight.
Sometimes they ask everyone but yesterday they only asked those who didn't look the part of "citizen." Completely unprofessional clown-like behavior, if you ask me. Ask everyone for their papers or ask no one should be the SOP.