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Immigration Practice - 14th Edition - Hardcover
Immigration Practice - 14th Edition - Electronic
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Chapter 2
DEALING WITH AGENCIES
§ 2-1. Introduction
Congress has broad power to determine immigration policy and to make
immigration laws.1 It has granted the executive branch the authority to
administer the immigration laws.2 Among the many executive branch
departments that are charged with the interpretation and administration of
the immigration laws are the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the
Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of State (DOS) and the
Department of Labor (DOL). Also impacting foreign nationals in many
ways are the Departments of Commerce, Health and Human Services, and
Treasury, as well as the Social Security Administration.
While the organization, policies and procedures of each of these
departments are discussed to varying degrees throughout this book, an
overview of their immigration-related functions and structures, along with
those of a few other executive agencies, is in order. The materials in this
chapter are intended to assist the practitioners to understand the
bureaucracies that can help or harm them so much. Links to government
agency web pages providing lists, addresses and phone numbers of
commonly encountered agencies and offices appear at Appendix C on the
CD-ROM.
§ 2-2. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice (formerly INS).
The Immigration and Nationality Act originally bestowed most of the
responsibilities for U.S. immigration matters technically upon the "Attorney
General" (AG) who is the head of the Department of Justice.3 The AG
previously delegated most immigration-related authority to the
Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which
was a part of the Department of Justice.4 The Homeland Security Act of
Chapter 2
DEALING WITH AGENCIES
§ 2-1. Introduction
§ 2-2. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice (formerly INS)
§ 2-2(a). Department of Homeland Security
§ 2-2(a)(1). U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS)
§ 2-2(a)(1)(A). District and Field Offices
§ 2-2(a)(1)(B). Service Centers
§ 2-2(a)(1)(C). Application Support Centers
§ 2-2(a)(1)(D). Asylum and Refugee Offices
§ 2-2(a)(1)(E). Offices Overseas
§ 2-2(a)(1)(F). Customer Service
§ 2-2(a)(1)(G). National Security and Records Verification
§ 2-2(a)(1)(H). Office of Citizenship
§ 2-2(a)(1)(I). Reopening, Reconsideration, and Appeal
§ 2-2(a)(2). U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE)
§ 2-2(a)(3). U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP)
§ 2-2(b). Department of Justice (DOJ)
§ 2-2(b)(1). Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR)
§ 2-2(b)(1)(A). Office of the Chief Immigration Judge (OCIJ)
§ 2-2(b)(1)(B). Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
§ 2-2(b)(1)(C). Office of the Chief Administrative Hearings Officer (OCAHO)
§ 2-3. Department of State
§ 2-3(a). Consulates
§ 2-3(b). Visa Office
§ 2-3(c). Passport Offices
§ 2-3(d). Services for U.S. Citizens and Residents Traveling Abroad
§ 2-3(e). J-1 Exchange Visitor Program Designation and Waivers
§ 2-4. Department of Labor
§ 2-4(a). Employment Training Administration
§ 2-4(b). Wage and Hour Division
§ 2-5. Other Agencies
§ 2-5(a). Department of Commerce
§ 2-5(b). Department of Treasury
§ 2-5(c). Social Security Administration
§ 2-5(d). Department of Health and Human Services
§ 2-6. Congressional Offices
Robert C. Divine is the Chairman of the Immigration Group of Baker Donelson, a law firm of over 550 lawyers and public policy advisors with offices in 13 cities from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans.
Mr. Divine served in Washington, D.C. from July 2004 until November 2006 as the first presidentially appointed Chief Counsel of United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), the world's largest immigration services agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From July 2005 until July 2006, he served as Acting Director and then Acting Deputy Director of USCIS. In early 2004 he served as an expert for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom evaluating the impact on asylum claims from DHS' implementation of expedited removal procedures.
He has practiced immigration law since 1986 and in the last several years has chaired the American Immigration Lawyers Association's "Inter-Agency" Committee and its Liaison Committee to the U.S. Department of State. He has served as an expert witness in U.S. and foreign courts.
His practice includes all aspects of U.S. immigration law, representing large and small international and domestic employers, investors, developers, regional centers, family sponsors, and individual foreign nationals. He has also litigated significant business matters, including class action employment discrimination, contract, commercial, product liability, antitrust, ERISA benefits, business torts (including RICO, misrepresentation, Consumer Protection Act), and immigration-related criminal matters
