Immigration Services & Information

Immigration services remain under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security.

In the United States, the responsibility of immigration matters belongs to a branch of the Department of Homeland Security known as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Although USCIS primarily handles the adjudication of immigration petitions and visa documents, additional agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) serve to secure the nation's borders with both field and intelligence agents.

History

In 2003, the United States formed the Department of Homeland Security. Under this new department, three immigration agencies were formed: USCIS, ICE and CBP. Prior to the creation of USCIS, immigration services were known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). INS functioned under the U.S. Department of Justice, although prior to 1940 it served as an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor. For a brief time in 2003, USCIS went by the acronym BCIS which stood for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, before finalizing its current name.

USCIS

The primary objective and responsibility of USCIS is to oversee lawful immigration into the United States. This process includes adjudication of immigrant petitions and nonimmigrant temporary visas, as well as creating regulations and procedures to adapt to changing immigration needs. USCIS accepts petitions on behalf of immigrants and immigrant work sponsors as well as family-based petitions for citizenship.

ICE

ICE aggressively investigates and enforces immigration laws across the country to protect the American people from illegal immigration matters. In addition to targeting drug traffickers and immigrant criminals, the agency also investigates and enforces illegal employment rings and illegal alien activity. In an effort to improve awareness and enforcement measures, ICE accepts information and tips from anyone who feels they may know of illegal immigration activity in the United States through an anonymous hot line.

CBP

The CBP primarily serves along the perimeter of the U.S. borders at all points of entry and border crossings. CBP checks immigration travel documents such as passport identification and visa entry stamps to ensure that only foreign nationals with proper permission gain entry into the United States. As evidence of entry, CBP officers provide visitors with an I-94 entry card, which indicates a date of travel expiration for any particular entry. That card must then be surrendered at the time of departure, effectively closing the record on a foreign national's trip to the United States.

Locations

USCIS maintains regional processing facilities in St. Albans, Vt.; Dallas; Lincoln, Neb.; and Laguna Niguel, Calif. The agency also offers local field offices in cities across the country and specialized petition processing services in Chicago. ICE and CBP have headquarters in Washington, D.C., but also maintain field offices across the United States.

References

• USCIS: History
• USCIS: What We Do
• ICE: About Us
• CBP: About