The Immigration and Naturalization Service was an agency that was a part of the United States Department of Justice from the year of 1983 to 2003. Also referred to as the INS, this agency was one of the most robust organizations that would end up tackling everything from the immigration policy to the naturalization service of the people that have spent a considerable part of their life in the United States. There were various offices that would administer the immigration as well as the naturalization matters. It was in 1890 that the federal government took charge of regulating the immigration policy in the United States. This is when there was a need for a permanent unit to come in place. And with the establishment of the immigration act of 1891, a commissioner was appointed to take over the immigration from the Treasury Department. However, with the increase in the immigration and the establishment of the United States as one of the most powerful countries in the world, it was time for a centralized unit, and this is where the formation of Immigration and Naturalization Service took place.
After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, the entire department of the immigration and naturalization service was disbanded, and now we currently have the Department of Homeland Security. An extremely robust enterprise, this particular department has three agencies, namely the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Patrol.
As the name suggests, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services primarily comprise of people that have the main role of taking into account all types of naturalization, immigration and citizenship queries that pop up. The role of this agency is to ensure that any kind of naturalization process that happens for the country is done with the true purpose of providing citizenship that is to provide value to the American Society.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement basically work in the immigration counters, ensuring that they can safeguard the society from the perils of the people that come into this country. They are the first line of defense in finding and retaining people and ensuring that they are peacefully removed and handed over to the law enforcement agencies. Any kind of immigration violation done previously would also need to be double checked by this department so as to see whether you are free to fly or not.
The Customs and Border Patrol is the unit that undertakes frequent policing of all the entry and exit points of the United States of America in order to check for the rampant in production of immigrants into the United States. To put matters into perspective, this is the unit that actually ensures that people from Mexico do not come unchecked into the country. They have also been known to join hands with the law enforcement agencies in order to tackle the uncontrolled growth of illegal immigrants in the country.
