The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was a part of the United States Department of Justice and handled legal and illegal immigration and naturalization. It ceased to exist on
March 1 2003.
Most of its functions were not transferred to three new agencies within the newly-created Department of Homeland Security in March 2003. The administration of
immigration services, including permanent residence, naturalization, asylum, and other functions became the responsibility of the
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), which existed only for a short time before changing to its current name,
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The investigative and enforcement functions (including investigations, deportation, and intelligence) were combined with U.S.
Customs investigators, the Federal Protective Service, and the Federal Air Marshal Service, to create U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The border functions of the
INS, which included the Border Patrol along with INS Inspectors, were combined with U.S. Customs Inspectors into the newly
created U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Mission
The U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) oversaw and enforced the laws that apply to the entry of non-U.S. citizens,
referred to as "aliens" or foreign nationals, into the United States. The INS oversaw the legal entry of non-U.S. citizens who
are temporarily or permanently settling in the United States, and enforced the laws of naturalization, the process by which a
foreign-born person becomes a citizen. The INS also tackled illegal entrance into the United States, preventing receipt of
benefits such as social security or unemployment by those ineligible to receive them and investigated, detainined, and deported
those illegally living in the United States.
Structure
At the head of the INS was a commissioner appointed by the president who reported to the Attorney General in the Department of
Justice. INS worked closely with the United Nations, the Department of State, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The INS was a very large and complex organization that had four main divisions—Programs, Field Operations, Policy and Planning,
and Management—that were responsible for operations and management.
The operational functions of the INS included the Programs and Field Operations divisions. The Programs division was
responsible for handling all the functions involved with enforcement and examinations, including the arrest, detaining, and
deportation of illegal immigrants as well as controlling illegal and legal entry. The
Field Operations division was responsible for overseeing INS's many offices operating throughout the country and the world.
The Field Operations division implemented policies and handled tasks for its three regional offices, which in turn oversaw 33
districts and 21 border areas throughout the country. Internationally, the Field Operations division oversaw the Headquarters
Office of International Affairs which in turn oversaw 16 offices outside the country.
The managerial functions of the INS included the Policy and Planning and Management divisions. The Office of Policy and
Planning coordinated all information for the INS and communicated with other cooperating government agencies and the public. The
office is divided into three areas: the Policy Division; the Planning Division; and the Evaluation and Research Center. The
second managerial division, called the Management division, was responsible for maintaining the overall mission of the INS
throughout its many offices and providing administrative services to these offices. These duties were handled by the offices of
Information Resources Management, Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Equal Employment Opportunity.
History of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
Immigrant Inspectors, circa 1924
Shortly after the U.S. Civil War, some states started to pass their own
immigration laws, which prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in
1875 that immigration was a federal responsibility. The Immigration Act of
1891 established an Office of the Superintendent of Immigration within the Treasury Department. This office was responsible for admitting, rejecting, and
processing all immigrants seeking admission to the United States and for implementing national immigration policy. 'Immigrant
Inspectors', as they were called then, were stationed at major U.S. ports of entry collecting manifests of arriving passengers.
Its largest station was located on Ellis Island in New York harbor. Among other things, a
'head tax' of fifty cents was collected on each immigrant.
Paralleling some immigration concerns of today, back in the early 1900's Congress' primary interest in immigration was to protect American workers and wages: the reason
it had become a federal concern in the first place. This made immigration more a matter of commerce than revenue. In
1903, Congress transferred the Bureau of Immigration to the newly
created (now-defunct) Department of Commerce and Labor.
After World War I, Congress attempted to stem the flow of immigrants, still mainly coming
from Europe, by passing laws in 1921 and 1924 limiting the number of
newcomers by assigning a quota to each nationality based upon its representation in previous U.S. Census figures. Each year, the U.S. State
Department issued a limited number of visas; only those immigrants who had
obtained them and could present valid visas were permitted entry.
President Franklin Roosevelt moved the INS from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice in 1940.
External links
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