User:Leosibb4/United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

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• It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which was dissolved by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and replaced by three components within the DHS: USCIS, which supervises the naturalization of new American citizens and lawful immigration to the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which enforces laws pertaining to border control, customs, trade and immigration. The last branch is Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which denies immigration to terrorists and individuals in with weapons, drugs or any other inadmissible possessions.
• USCIS processes immigrant visa petitions, naturalization applications, asylum applications, applications for adjustment of status (green cards) for documented and undocumented immigrants.

Moreover, undocumented immigrants are eligible for residency on different parameters. For an undocumented immigrant to be granted permanent residency (green card) they must abide by the registry provision to acquire this status. The registry provision date was first developed in 1929 with the intention to regulate immigration at a federal level. This provision allows non-citizens who are either undocumented or on a temporary immigration status to apply for Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status. To qualify, individuals must have entered the country on or before a specific date which is the registry date. Other parameters include continued stay since entering the country and good moral character. After being created in 1929, congress advanced the registry date a total of four times. First set to only grant residency to individuals who entered the country before or on June 3 1921, the date was then moved to July 1 1924, further to to July 1 1940, once more to June 30 1948 and finally January 1 1972. The last advancement date comprised the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) along with other regularization provisions which included penalizing institutions that knowingly employed undocumented non-citizens. This was done through a set of congressional amendments that culminated in 1958 where the the requirement for non-citizens to be eligible only if they are not subject to deportation was removed. Now the provision only excludes non-citizens that are inadmissible to the United States on criminal or national-security grounds. The updated and current eligibility requirements for registry are as follows:

• You entered the United States prior to Jan. 1, 1972
• You have resided in the United States continuously since you entered
• You are a person of good moral character
• You are not ineligible for naturalization (citizenship)
• You are not removable (deportable) under Section 237(a)(4)(B) the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). You are not inadmissible under Section 212(a)(3)(E) of the INA or as a criminal, procurer, other immoral person, subversive, violator of the narcotics laws or noncitizen smugglerhttps://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-through-registry#:~:text=To%20apply%20for%20a%20Green%20Card%20under%20the%20registry%20provisions,Permanent%20Residence%20or%20Adjust%20Status.

The enforcement of immigration laws remains under Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The founding of the USCIS was influenced by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. These events brought urgency into INS' mission of providing immigration services while upholding homeland security and prompted a remarkable change in the United States' immigration laws. The main role of American immigration policy became to reinforce border security and remove criminal aliens that could threaten the security of the country. Simultaneously, the United States remained committed to welcoming lawful immigrants and fostering their assimilation to American civic culture.

Opinion:

Were congress be willing to advance the registry once more, millions of immigrants would be able to receive a green card. Due to the last advancement of the registry date being almost 50 years ago, it has become obsolete. Most immigrants have arrived to the United States at a later date than 1972 and congress would simply have to change the bill minimally for millions of immigrants to benefit immensely.

Article Draft

https://www.fwd.us/news/immigration-registry/

Moriarty, Andrew. “Immigration Registry: A Potential Pathway to Citizenship for Many Immigrants.” FWD.us, 28 Sept. 2021, https://www.fwd.us/news/immigration-registry/.

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/immigration-registry-legalize/tnamp/

De La Hoz, Felipen. “This Simple Change Could Legalize Millions of Immigrants.” The Nation, The Nation, 4 Sept. 2020, https://www.thenation.com/article/society/immigration-registry-legalize/tnamp/.

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-through-registry

“Green Card Through Registry.” USCIS, 27 Nov. 2017, https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-through-registry.

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/research/legalization_through_registry_1.pdf

“Legalization through ‘Registry.’” American Immigration Council, 29 Sept. 2021, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/legalization-through-registry.

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/legalization-through-registry

“Legalization through ‘Registry.’” American Immigration Council, 29 Sept. 2021, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/legalization-through-registry.

https://www.brownimmigrationfl.com/immigration/registry-provisions/

“Orlando Immigration Attorney.” Robert Brown, LLC, https://www.brownimmigrationfl.com/.