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1 (May 20, 2003)

handle is hein.crs/crsahqb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20916 Updated May 20, 2003 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Immigration and Naturalization Fundamentals Ruth Ellen Wasem Specialist in Social Legislation Domestic Social Policy Division Summary Congress typically considers a wide range of immigration issues and now that the number of foreign born residents of the United States - 32.5 million in 2002 - is at the highest point in U.S. history, the debates over immigration policies grow in importance. As a backdrop to these debates, this report provides an introduction to immigration and naturalization policy, concepts, and statistical trends. It touches on a range of topics, including numerical limits, refugees and asylees, exclusion, naturalization, illegal aliens, eligibility for federal benefits, and taxation. This report does not track legislation and will not be regularly updated. Introduction Four major principles underlie U.S. policy on legal permanent immigration: the reunification of families, the admission of immigrants with needed skills, the protection of refugees, and the diversity of admissions by the country of origin. These principles are embodied in federal law, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) first codified in 1952. Congress has significantly amended the INA several times since, most recently by the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-173).1 An alien is any person not a citizen or national of the United States and is synonymous with noncitizen. It includes people who are here legally, as well as people who are here in violation of the INA. Noncitizen is generally used to describe all foreign- born persons in the United States who have not become citizens. The two basic types of legal aliens are immigrants and nonimmigrants. Immigrants are persons admitted as legal permanent residents (LPRs) of the United States. Nonimmigrants - such as tourists, foreign students, diplomats, temporary agricultural 1 Other major laws amending INA are the Immigration Amendments of 1965, the Refugee Act of 1980, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the Immigration Act of 1990, and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Congressional Research Service **o The Library of Congress

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