Following the events of 9/11, the U.S. Government underwent a significant reorganization in the spring of 2003. This was the single largest government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense. Congress created the Department of Homeland Security, and transferred the Customs Service to the new department. The reorganization abolished the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and transferred its inspection and patrol functions to the Customs Service. Subsequently, the Customs Service was renamed the Bureau of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The Homeland Security reorganization also established the Bureau of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and transferred Customs Service special agents to the new agency, where they joined special agents and other enforcement personnel that had been transferred from the abolished INS. Thus, CBP and ICE became sister agencies under the new Department of Homeland Security (the bureau designation has since been dropped from both ICE and CBP).

The duties once performed by Customs Special Agents now come under the preview of ICE/Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Customs and Border Protection with the Department of Homeland Security, enforcing federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration to promote homeland security and public safety. Those Special Agents, Pilots, Patrol Officers, Inspectors, K9 Officers, Import Specialists, District Directors, Commissioners, Deputy and Assistant Commissioners, Attorneys, Analysts, and other vital former support personnel now do what we once did in much the same manner and the camaraderie we once shared amongst ourselves, they now share amongst themselves. They are our legacy as we are theirs.

In March of 2015, the members of the AFCSA overwhelming approved a resolution of the Board of Directors to extend membership to HSI Special Agents. AFCSA continues to offer membership to qualified employees of both the legacy and current agencies. Now, as then, we represent the dedicated men and women who collectively represent our Nation’s First Line of Defense within the Department of Homeland Security.

In April of 2017, the members of the AFCSA in light of the membership’s inclusion of Homeland Security Special Agents in the 2015 election cycle, passed an Association name change to reflect membership’s approval of the same. This resolution passed and we will now be the Association of Former Customs Special Agents, Inc., DBA the Association of Customs and HSI Special Agents. The organization will operate as the Association of Customs and HSI Special Agents, remaining AFCSA for corporate, legal, financial and tax purposes.

The new ACHSIA logo/seal consists of our name encircling the U.S. Customs and the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent badges. The displayed represent the year that U.S. Customs was created by the Fifth Act of the First Congress, July 31, 1789, to enforce the Tariff Act which was signed into law on July 4, 1789; the year 1870, in which the U.S. Congress authorized the establishment of independent investigators for Customs; and, 2003, the year Congress created the Department of Homeland Security.