Jennifer Gagliardi - U.S. Citizenship For Dummies

The DHS encompasses a wide range of duties and responsibilities. Although you may only interact with one or two parts of the DHS, all the department’s activities are ultimately aimed at accomplishing six primary missions:

Counter terrorism and security threats

Secure U.S. borders and manage safe, orderly, and humane immigration processes

Secure cyberspace and critical infrastructure

Preserve and uphold the nation’s prosperity and economic security

Strengthen disaster preparedness and resilience

Champion the DHS workforce

One of the potential major advantages of the DHS is that it gives state and local officials one main contact instead of many when it comes to homeland-security needs. In theory, this will streamline the processes of efficiently obtaining necessary supplies and equipment, and training emergency personnel like police and firefighters, as well as medical personnel, to manage security emergencies. The DHS also manages federal grant programs, protects the U.S. borders, and more.

Through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the DHS took over half of the INS’s former duties, including the following:

Adjudicating (hearing and deciding on) immigrant and nonimmigrant petitions

Adjusting the immigration status of immigrants already in the United States

Issuing work authorization and other permits

Naturalizing qualified applicants for U.S. citizenship

Processing asylum and refugee cases

Deterring, detecting, and addressing vulnerabilities to the legal immigration system

Promoting lawful immigrants’ assimilation into American society

The following info comes directly from the USCIS. On an average day, the USCIS does the following:

Adjudicates more than 28,000 requests for various immigration benefits.

Processes 3,100 applications to sponsor relatives and future spouses.

Analyzes nearly 600 tips, leads, cases, and detections for potential fraud, public safety, and national security concerns.

Processes refugee applications around the world in support of the refugee admissions ceiling of 125,000 refugees for fiscal year 2022.

Grants asylum to 25 individuals already in the United States.

Screens 170 people for protection based on a credible fear of persecution or torture if they return home.

Serves 800 people at in-person appointments for document services and other urgent needs.

Fingerprints and photographs 12,000 people at 130 application support centers.

Approves applications and petitions to help unite five foreign-born orphans with the Americans who want to adopt them.

Grants lawful permanent residence to more than 2,000 people and issues nearly 5,400 green cards.

Welcomes 3,200 new citizens at naturalization ceremonies — that’s one every 27 seconds. Typically, about 35 of these new citizens are members of the U.S. armed forces.

Ensures the employment eligibility of 100,000 new hires in the United States.

Receives 50,000 phone calls to its toll-free phone line and more than 150,000 inquiries and service requests via online accounts and digital self-help tools.

Receives 986,000 visitor sessions to its website.

Conducts automated verifications on employment eligibility and immigration status for more than 136,000 cases in E-Verify and 66,000 cases in SAVE.

Conducts manual reviews of eligibility and immigration status for more than 1,300 cases in E-Verify and 4,500 cases in SAVE.

Resolves more than 650 phone calls and 200 emails related to E-Verify and SAVE inquiries.

Processes 700 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)/Privacy Act (PA) requests.

United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is one of the Department of Homeland Security’s largest and most complex components, with a priority mission of keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the United States. It also has a responsibility for securing and facilitating trade and travel while enforcing hundreds of U.S. regulations, including immigration and drug laws. Other duties include

Securing the U.S. border

Preventing aliens from entering the country unlawfully

Preventing terrorists and other criminal aliens from entering the United States

Conducting border and port-of-entry inspections

Answering questions about and helping find solutions to immigration concerns brought by the public, special-interest groups, and other government agencies, as well as the U.S. Congress

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforces immigration laws, including removal, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) protects and monitors the nation’s borders.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE’s stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety. ICE has two primary and distinct law enforcement components:

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is responsible for enforcing the nation’s immigration laws and primarily deals with the deportation and removal of undocumented noncitizens.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is the primary investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security and primarily deals with threats to national security such as human trafficking and drug smuggling.

The United States continues to welcome nonimmigrants and immigrants who seek opportunity in the country while excluding terrorists and their supporters. Under the heading of immigration enforcement, the mission of ICE is to

Detect and remove those who are living in the United States unlawfully

Detain and remove criminal aliens from the country

Apprehend and prosecute illegal aliens and workers, including performing worksite enforcement of immigration laws

Enforce laws regarding immigration document fraud

Decide matters of removal from the United States

As the leading U.S. foreign-affairs agency, the Department of State ( www.state.gov ) maintains diplomatic relations with about 180 countries as well as with many international organizations. With the primary mission of maintaining and improving relationships with these countries, the Department of State runs nearly 260 diplomatic and consular posts around the world, including embassies, consulates, and missions to international organizations.

To be sure, the State Department has many important duties, including providing support for U.S. citizens at home and abroad; helping developing countries grow strong, stable economies and governments; bringing nations together to address global concerns; and combating threats like terrorism, international crime, and narcotics trafficking. But the State Department also provides many services to U.S. citizens traveling and living abroad through many offices, including the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

The State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) operates and maintain Travel.State.Gov , the one-stop website for travelers (immigrants and non-immigrants) to and from the United States. Its duties include