Summer 2002
INS REORGANIZATION AND REPOSITIONING
On April 25, 2002, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to abolish the Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS"). A similar Senate plan was in the works. The House’s bill would split the INS into two separate agencies, one dealing with immigration benefits and the other dealing with immigration enforcement. However, on June 6, 2002, the President proposed to create a new Department of Home-land Security. Under this proposal, the INS would be transferred from the U.S. Department of Justice to the new Department of Homeland Security. We do not yet know what impact this will have on the U.S. immigration laws and system, but we will continue to provide relevant updates.