There is created and established in the Department of Justice an Immigration and Naturalization Service.
8 U.S. Code § 1551 - Immigration and Naturalization Service
Section was formerly classified to section 342 of Title 5 prior to the general revision and enactment of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, by Pub. L. 89–554, § 1, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 378.
Pub. L. 106–313, title II, § 201, Oct. 17, 2000, 114 Stat. 1262, provided that:
The Immigration and Naturalization Service was abolished by section 291(a) of Title 6, Domestic Security, upon completion of all transfers from the Immigration and Naturalization Service as provided for by chapter 1 of Title 6.
Functions of the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization performed under the Border Patrol program, the detention and removal program, the intelligence program, the investigations program, and the inspections program, and all personnel, assets, and liabilities pertaining to such programs, were transferred to the Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security of the Department of Homeland Security by section 251 of Title 6 and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6.
Functions of the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization relating to adjudications of immigrant visa petitions, adjudications of naturalization petitions, adjudications of asylum and refugee applications, adjudications performed at service centers, and all other adjudications performed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and all personnel, infrastructure, and funding provided to the Commissioner in support of such functions, were transferred to the Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security by section 271(b) of Title 6 and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified.
Functions performed by the Statistics Branch of the Office of Policy and Planning of the Immigration and Naturalization Service with respect to the functions of the Commissioner referred to in the two preceding paragraphs were transferred to the Under Secretary for Management of the Department of Homeland Security by former section 341(b)(2) of Title 6 and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified.
Functions under the immigration laws of the United States with respect to the care of unaccompanied alien children that were vested by statute in, or performed by, the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization (or any officer, employee, or component of the Immigration and Naturalization Service) were transferred to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the Department of Health and Human Services by section 279(a) of Title 6 and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified.
Personnel of the Department of Justice employed in connection with the functions transferred by part E (§ 271 et seq.) of subchapter IV of chapter 1 of Title 6 (and functions that the Secretary of Homeland Security determines are properly related to the functions of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services), were transferred to the Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services by section 275(b)(2) of Title 6 and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified. Personnel of the Department of Justice employed in connection with the functions transferred by section 279 of Title 6 were transferred to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement by section 279(f)(3) of Title 6 and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified.
For treatment of references to any agency, officer, or office, etc. the functions of which were transferred to the Department of Homeland Security, see sections 552(d) and 557 of Title 6.
Pub. L. 96–132, § 10, Nov. 30, 1979, 93 Stat. 1047, provided that:
Pub. L. 96–132, § 22, Nov. 30, 1979, 93 Stat. 1050, as amended by Pub. L. 117–286, § 4(b)(25), Dec. 27, 2022, 136 Stat. 4346, provided that:
By acts Aug. 3, 1882, ch. 376, §§ 2, 3, 22 Stat. 214; Feb. 23, 1887, ch. 220, 24 Stat. 415, the administration of the immigration laws then in force was reposed in the Secretary of the Treasury. Subsequently, by act Mar. 3, 1891, ch. 551, § 7, 26 Stat. 1087, the office of the Superintendent of Immigration was created as a permanent immigration agency and he in turn was designated Commissioner General of Immigration under the heading “Bureau of Immigration” by act Mar. 2, 1895, ch. 177, § 1, 28 Stat. 780. Upon the establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, the Commissioner General of Immigration and the Bureau of Immigration were transferred to that Department by act Feb. 14, 1903, ch. 552, § 4, 32 Stat. 825, and thereafter were redesignated the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization by act June 29, 1906, ch. 3592, § 1, 34 Stat. 596. The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization was transferred to the Department of Labor upon its establishment by act Mar. 4, 1913, ch. 141, 37 Stat. 736, and divided into two bureaus to be known as the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization, respectively. Ex. Ord. No. 6166, § 14, June 10, 1933, set out as note under section 901 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, again consolidated these bureaus to form the Immigration and Naturalization Service, under a “Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization”, which was then transferred from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice by 1940 Reorg. Plan No. V, eff. June 14, 1940, 5 F.R. 2223, 54 Stat. 1238, set out in the Appendix to Title 5.
Functions vested by law in Attorney General, Department of Justice, or any other officer or any agency of that Department, with respect to inspection at regular inspection locations at ports of entry of persons, and documents of persons, entering or leaving United States, were to have been transferred to Secretary of the Treasury by 1973 Reorg. Plan No. 2, § 2, eff. July 1, 1973, 38 F.R. 15932, 87 Stat. 1091, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. The transfer was negated by section 1(a)(1), (b) of Pub. L. 93–253, Mar. 16, 1974, 88 Stat. 50, which repealed section 2 of 1973 Reorg. Plan No. 2, eff. July 1, 1973.
Functions of all other officers of Department of Justice and functions of all agencies and employees of such Department, with a few exceptions, transferred to Attorney General, with power vested in him to authorize their performance or performance of any of his functions by any of such officers, agencies, and employees, by 1950 Reorg. Plan No. 2, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3173, 64 Stat. 1261, set out in the Appendix to Title 5. See sections 509 and 510 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.