There are five major departments of the executive branch of the federal government involved in the immigration process:

1. Department of State;
2. Department of Justice (“DOJ”);
3. Department of Labor;
4. Department of Health and Human Services; and
5. United States Information Agency

The State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs and Visa Office performs consular services overseas, which include the initial screening and visa issuance or denial to potential immigrants and nonimmigrants.

Furthermore, the Secretary of State, as head of the Department of State, is charged with the administration and the enforcement of the provisions of this Act and all other immigration and nationality laws relating to:

1. the powers, duties and functions of diplomatic and consular officers of the United States, except those powers, duties and functions conferred upon the consular officers relating to the granting or refusal of visas;
2. the powers, duties and functions of the Administrator; and
3. the determination of nationality of a person not in the United States.

See 8 U.S.C.A. § 1104(a).

In its role in the immigration process, the DOJ contains an important administrative unit, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which consists of two subunits, the immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The EOIR was created on January 9, 1983, through an internal DOJ reorganization which combined the BIA with the Immigration Judge function previously performed by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) (now part of the Department of Homeland Security).

Besides establishing EOIR as a separate agency within DOJ, this reorganization made the Immigration Courts independent of INS, the agency charged with enforcement of Federal immigration laws. The Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) was added in 1987. EOIR is also separate from the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices in the DOJ Civil Rights Division and the Office of Immigration Litigation in the DOJ Civil Division.

The immigration judges conduct removal hearings, while the BIA is an administrative appeals body separate and independent from the immigration-related agencies, and directly accountable to the Attorney General. Unfavorable decisions can be appealed from the BIA to the federal courts.

Example: Hannah has been trying to gain permanent residency in the U.S. for several years. When her application was denied, she appealed to the BIA. Once again, the BIA issued an unfavorable decision. As such, she is now entitled to appeal her case to federal court.

Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”)

On November 25, 2002 , the President signed the Homeland Security Act of 2002 into law. This law transfers the INS functions to the new Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). Immigration enforcement functions will be placed within the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security (“CBP”), and the immigration service functions will be placed into a separate U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). Some INS functions will also report to the Under Secretary for Management and the Director of Shared Services. Despite its infamous past, the INS no longer exists.

Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”)

Nearly all of the authority to administer and enforce immigration laws is vested in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (http://www.dhs.gov), as delegated by the Secretary of Homeland Security. (DHS’s first Secretary is Tom Ridge, the former governor of Pennsylvania).

The Secretary of Homeland Security is charged with the administration and enforcement of this Act and all other laws relating to the immigration and naturalization of aliens, except insofar as this Act or such laws relate to the powers, functions, and duties conferred upon the President, Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the officers of the Department of State, or diplomatic or consular officers.

See 8 USCS § 1103(a)(1).

This delegation comes in the form of three bureaus within the department:

(1) U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) (http://uscis.gov),

(2) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (http://www.ice.gov), and

(3) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (http://www.cbp.gov).

Department of Homeland Security:

CBP enforces immigration and customs laws at and between the 307 ports of entry into the United States. It has 35,000 employees, including former inspectors from the Customs Service, the INS, the Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Program, and 10,000 former Border Patrol Agents.

ICE’s focus is enforcement and has 14,000 employees. Aside from enforcing immigration laws, the bureau is charged with enforcing customs laws and protecting the over 8,000 federally owned and leased buildings within the United States and its territories. ICE is comprised of former Customs Service and INS Special Agents, INS Detention and Deportation Officers, INS’ Immigration Litigation Section, Federal Protective Service (FPS) employees, and parts of the former INS, Customs and FPS intelligence sections.

Immigration enforcement by ICE will include immigration investigations, detention, removal and intelligence. ICE’s immigration enforcement strategy is a “comprehensive interior enforcement strategy to systematically combat illegal immigration inside the United States by attacking its causes, not merely its symptoms”. ICE’s immigration intelligence service will be responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating real-time intelligence to domestic and overseas immigration-related field offices. ICE conducts its immigration enforcement duties from INS’ former regional and district facilities.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”)

The USCIS (initially known as the “Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services” or “BCIS”) has nearly 15,000 employees and contractors. The USCIS’s exclusive focus is on administering immigration benefits and services. Such services include processing family-sponsored and employment-based petitions, naturalization applications, asylum and refugee cases, and, at this time, special registration. The USCIS is divided into four service groups:

(1) Area Operations;

(2) Service Center Operations;

(3) Asylum & Refugee Affairs Operations; and

(4) Information and Customer Services.

Many former INS officials hold prominent positions within the bureau.

For the foreseeable future the USCIS will conduct operations within the same physical infrastructure used by the INS. The four service centers, the three regional offices, and the 33 district offices will be located at the same location of the corresponding INS buildings. Additionally, for the time being the USCIS will continue to accept immigration forms bearing the INS logo, and petitions addressed to the INS.

USCIS officers will not have general arrest authority, though. An exception to this, however, is when a USCIS officer performs inspection duties. USCIS officers will continue to have authority to issue notices to appear (NTAs) for immigration court hearings.