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1 1 (June 7, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govelwx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SCongressional Research Service WiimmeInforming the legislative debate since 1914 0 June 7, 2023 Immigration 101: Executive Branch Agencies Involved with Immigration While Congress has plenary power over immigration law, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), Homeland Security Act (HSA), and other laws grant substantial discretion over immigration policy to the executive branch. Executive branch departments and their components have distinct yet overlapping responsibilities for immigration policy. These include facilitating the lawful admission of foreign nationals and removing those without authorization to be in the United States or who have committed an action that makes them removable (i.e., deportable). Many of these functions fall within the Department of Homeland Security, but several other agencies also have responsibility for carrying out immigration policy, including components of the Departments of Justice, State, Health and Human Services, and Labor. De partment of Homeland Security DHS was established under the HSA in 2002. The HSA abolished the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which was within the Department of Justice (DOJ). It transferred many of INS's functions to the new DHS, a cabinet-level department that incorporated 22 federal agencies. Three DHS component agencies are responsible for immigration and enforcement functions: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) USCIS oversees lawful immigration to the United States, which includes adjudicating applications for naturalization and immigration benefits, such as * petitions for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status in employment and family-based categories; * applications for humanitarian protections such as Temporary Protected Status, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, affirmative asylum (for individuals who are not in removal proceedings), immigration parole, and eligibility determinations for refugees; and * certain applications for nonimmigrants (i.e., individuals present in the United States with temporary visas) such as for those extending their stay or changing to a different nonimmigrant status. As part of these adjudications, USCIS conducts background and security checks in collaboration with DOJ's Federal Bureau of Investigation. USCIS also processes employment authorization documents for foreign nationals eligible to work in the United States, travel authorization documents, and intercountry adoptions, and it conducts naturalization ceremonies to confer U.S. citizenship. Together with the Social Security Administration, the agency operates the E- Verify program for employers to confirm immigrant (i.e., permanent) and nonimmigrant (i.e., temporary) workers' U.S. employment eligibility. USCIS asylum officers conduct credible fear screenings for certain migrants subject to expedited removal (INA §235(c)(1)) who express an intent to apply for asylum or who fear persecution in their home countries. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ICE is a law enforcement agency within DHS with responsibility primarily for immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior. Within ICE, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) identifies. arrests, detains, and removes foreign nationals who are unlawfully present or removable. ERO manages the U.S. civil immigration detention system. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducts federal criminal investigations of people, goods, money, technology, and contraband, both in the interior and along the border. HSI also enforces provisions of the INA that prohibit the employment of foreign nationals who are not authorized to work in the United States (i.e., worksite enforcement). Customs and Border Protection (CBP) CBP enforces immigration laws at U.S. land, air, and sea borders, including by processing arriving migrants. Within CBP, the Office of Field Operations (OFO) operates at U.S. ports of entry (POEs), facilitating lawful trade and travel and enforcing border security. OFO officers inspect travel documents and determine whether arriving migrants are admissible under requirements in the INA. The U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) secures the land border between ports of entry, with responsibility for the detection, prevention, and apprehension of individuals who have entered or are attempting to enter the United States without authorization. USBP operates within geographic-based sectors at the northern, southern, and coastal borders. CBP's Air and Marine Operations (AMO) also operates along the border in air and maritime environments. Processing for Removal USCIS, ICE, and CBP may charge foreign nationals in the interior or at the border with grounds of deportability (INA §237) and inadmissibility (INA §212) and process them for removal from the United States. DHS commences formal

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