Comprehensive Immigration

Comprehensive Immigration (USA Patriot Act)

After September 11th, Congress reassessed our immigration laws to make them more effective. These efforts have resulted in the passage of three important pieces of legislation, which are law. The first is the USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56). This new law significantly affects the way our law enforcement, intelligence and border inspection agencies maintain the security of our borders. Among its many provisions, this law triples the number of Border Patrol, Customs Service, and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) personnel and provides additional funding for related border monitoring technology and equipment.

The second measure is the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act (Public Law 107-173). It requires all immigration documents - including visas and foreign passports - include machine-readable biometric data (such as fingerprints). The law prohibits visas from being issued to visitors from countries that the State Department has determined to be state sponsors of terrorism unless immigration officials determine through a rigorous background check that the applicant is not involved with terrorists.

Congress also passed and the president signed into law a bill creating the Department of Homeland Security (Public Law 107-296). This landmark law takes the long-needed step of reorganizing the INS and separating its law enforcement from service functions. The law enforcement functions of the INS, such as the Border Patrol, will now be a part of a bureau of border security within the new Department of Homeland Security. Immigration services, such as naturalization and issuing permanent resident "green cards," will go into a separate division of the department. In addition, the law gives the Homeland Security Department sole authority to set policy for granting visas to foreigners.

These laws begin a new era of proper security and enforcement where those who are in this country legally and for authorized purposes are protected and those who are breaking the law are promptly removed or barred from entering.