Introduction to U.S. Immigration Law
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 10:45PM Welcome to BorderImmigrationLawyer.com! The purpose of this site is to provide the public with information about common U.S. immigration issues. Specifically, those issues arising at land border ports of entry.
U.S. immigration law is a very complicated area of law and can be extremely confusing to most individuals. In this author’s experience, understanding the U.S. immigration laws and processes began with a study of the government agencies that are charged with their administration and enforcement.
Immigration law is federal law, which means that the same laws apply throughout the country, in every state. It also means that federal agencies, not state or local, are responsible for administering and enforcing the immigration laws. There are several federal agencies that are involved with immigration in some way. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) is the primary federal agency charged with the administration and enforcement of the immigration laws. Other agencies with lesser, yet important, roles include the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of State.