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Nonfiction

Dismantling the INS

 

What Was The INS?

 

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was a powerful federal agency that lasted 70 years (from 1933-2003) to enforce the United States’ laws of immigration and naturalization. The INS had the power to grant visas (including permanent residence visas or “green cards”), to make foreigners into U.S. citizens, to fight terrorism and smuggling, and to investigate, detain and deport suspected illegal immigrants.

 

Why Was the INS Disbanded?

The INS was a huge operation with thousands of employees. It didn’t get everything right. Many felt that its vast expanse of duties caused the agency to be inefficient and to make frequent errors.  For example, on September 11, 2001, 19 foreigners whom the INS had allowed to enter the U.S. on student or tourist visas committed horrific terrorist attacks, killing 2,977 people in New York, Washington, and on United flight 93 out of Newark, New Jersey. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the INS’ contacts with two of the 9/11 terrorists and found them to have been inadequate for the protection of the country. Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-shehhi entered the U.S. on tourist visas and, while here, filed papers to change their status to students so they could attend flight school. The INS was slow to review the applications and thus possibly overlooked important information about the travelers' intent. The OIG criticized the INS for its delay in processing the men’s change of status applications, and noted that the INS was so sloppy that it continued to mail them their student visas after the attacks had already occurred.

 

The OIG noticed that the INS had no system in place to track foreign students living in the U.S.  Because of this, the INS was forced to make critical decisions about student aliens without having access to important information about their activities and whereabouts.  Since that time, the Department of Homeland Security has instituted the SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) to monitor international students and schools for ongoing immigration compliance. The SEVP is designed to ensure that government immigration agencies have essential data related to students and exchange visitors in order to preserve national security.

 

Overall, the OIG’s assessment was that the INS was incompetent at protecting the United States from terrorists. The INS’ defense was that only one of the 19 terrorists entered the U.S. on a student visa. The rest entered on tourist visas, so the OIG should not have pointed the finger at the INS’ student visa program. However, when the OIG reviewed the INS' defense of the attackers’ tourist visa applications, it found scribbled writing and wrong answers that should have caused the INS to red-flag the applications.

 

As a result of the criticism, the INS was dissolved in 2003. It was reconfigured as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its functions were divided up into three different agencies:

 

(1)    Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE's mission is to protect the United States from cross-border crime and illegal immigration. ICE focuses on customs violations; combating human, drug and other smuggling; immigration enforcement; and preventing terrorism.

 

(2).    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). USCIS processes and adjudicates immigration matters, including applications for work visas, applications for family-based visas, asylum, citizenship, and permanent residence (green cards).

 

(3).    U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  This agency, which formerly included the Border Patrol and INS Inspectors, were combined with U.S. Customs Inspectors to create CBP. CBP is one of the largest law enforcement agencies of the United States, with a workforce of more than 45,000 federal agents and officers. Among its other duties, CBP is charged with regulating and facilitating international trade and collecting import taxes.

 

The reorganization led to some legal changes. The INS had previously fallen under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, and it worked closely with the FBI. It had to follow federal rules concerning police apprehension of criminals. For example, the INS could not enter people’s homes to search for illegal aliens without a warrant. Today, immigration enforcement falls under the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security. Because they are not conducted by police officials, warrantless home raids are now legal.

 

What is the History of the INS?

 

1882 – Early 1900s: The origins of the INS stretch back to the end of the U.S. Civil War. After the war, individual states began enacting and enforcing their own immigration laws. The federal government recognized the need for a uniform set of immigration rules applied across the country. In 1882, the U.S. Congress gave the office of the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to monitor immigration and naturalization. In 1891, this authority was transferred to the newly established Office of the Superintendent of Immigration. Inspectors were stationed at U.S. ports, primarily to collect taxes from immigrants (a “head tax” of fifty cents per immigrant).

 

In the early 1900s, Congress' primary interest in immigration was to protect American workers and wages. This made immigration more a matter of commerce than security protection. In 1903, Congress transferred responsibility for immigration to the recently created Department of Commerce and Labor, reasoning that the primary concerns of immigration — protecting American workers and wages — fell under its jurisdiction. It was renamed “Immigration and Naturalization Services” – the INS.

 

1921 – 1940: After World War I, Congress attempted to stem the flow of mostly northern and western European immigrants by passing laws in 1921 and 1924 limiting the number of foreign newcomers.  A quota was assigned to each nationality based upon its representation in prior U.S. Census figures, and only a limited number of visas were issued on an annual basis. A number of unanticipated difficulties arose, and the focal point of these issues was Ellis Island. The island had become the main entry point for immigrants to the United States. Unfortunately, it became the center of a number of corruption and brutality scandals, which led President Theodore Roosevelt to appoint an attorney to resolve its difficulties.

 

In 1941, Justice Department officials decided that the INS would oversee the internment of “enemy aliens'' arrested by the FBI should the U.S. enter the war. Three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the INS put these plans into effect. The INS immediately put 2,295 Japanese, German, and Italian nationals into custody. Many of these “enemy aliens” had resided in the United States for decades. They were arrested without warrants or formal charges, and were not allowed attorneys nor were they allowed to call witnesses in their defense. They were held in immigration stations for months before receiving a hearing, and then were either released or, more commonly, were transferred to an internment camp.  It is estimated that approximately 32,000 people were interned by the INS during World War II, many for as long as four years. Two-thirds of those held in internment camps were U.S. citizens.

 

The INS was reorganized two more times before being disbanded.  First, in a move ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt, it moved from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice in 1940, and as noted above it was later transferred from the Department of Justice to the Department of Homeland Security.  In its last embodiment, INS worked with external agencies, including the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 

As noted, the INS was dissolved in 2003, one year after it became part of the Department of Homeland Security.

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