INS
was the first governing body that had major control over the immigration issues of the country.
The early days of US immigration history did not have any policy or legislation
to regulate the immigrants. This was due to the fact that the Americans favored
and actually encouraged open immigration. The country was greatly benefitted by
the unique and varied skills of the immigrants which led to a rapid
development.
How was the INS founded?
The
country’s first immigration
ins law was passed in the year 1864, which encouraged immigration by offering
transportation and settlement benefits to the immigrants. Since the immigrant
numbers were within a controllable limit, every state was able to tackle the
issue on its own. It was considered to be a domestic issue before the influx of
immigrants began to increase.
The
Immigration Act of 1891 authorized the US Federal Government to undertake
complete control of the immigration system. This led to the formation of the
Office of Immigration under the US Department of Treasury. This streamlined the
immigration process with the help of its immigration stations and its
inspectors (offices who were stationed at all immigrant stations).
Till
the year 1933, Immigration and Naturalization were treated as two separate
issues. The merger of these two portfolios and the beginning of World War
changed their importance. INS was thus born and it was immediately entrusted
with the major responsibility of managing the country’s security. INS
functioned under the US Department of Justice and was headed by a Commissioner.
Practices
of the INS
A general idea of the role of INS is that, it is
concerned with the deportation of illegal aliens. The truth is that, this is
only a part in the list of responsibilities of the USCIS. The following are the
functions of the IN
- Strict
enforcement of immigration laws
- Helping the
asylee and refugees to get the benefits that they are entitled to
- It works in
association with other major departments like the Departments of State,
Health, Human services, US Foreign Service and the UN
The INS had a workforce
of about more than 25,000 employees and control over more than 250 Ports of
Entry into the US. This helped them to screen all those who were entering the
US and declare them to be eligible or not. This saved a great deal of money as
deportation costs were minimized.
Illegal immigration
became a persistent headache to the US after a few years of the formation of
the INS. The entry of a large number of illegal aliens exposed the fragility of
the nation’s borders as these were the main gateways for them. So the Border
Patrol was put into action to continuously guard the borders and detain
illegals. The officers patrol the borders on land, sea and air as the illegals
find every possible way to come in to the US in an illegal fashion.
Major
accomplishments of the INS
·
Apprehension of more than 1.5 million of
illegals
·
Deportation of these illegals and around
176,000 criminals from the US
·
Winning more than 45,000 criminal cases.
·
Receiving around 5 million applications
( immigration benefits and naturalization) which brought in a revenue of more than $1billion as fee.
All these were accomplished in the year 1999 which
could be considered as the most productive and successful year for the INS.
Reasons
for its downfall
It was very difficult for this national body to
balance both its responsibilities. Even though the US was proud of the fact that it was the most
favorite choice of immigrants, it found it very difficult to manage the
security issue at its borders. Immigration and naturalization procedures were
going on very smoothly until terrorists staged a monstrous attack on the World
Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Three newly formed components – USCIS, ICE
and CBP that were placed under the newly formed US Department Of Homeland Security
shared the functions of the former INS.
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