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alt="Technical Stuff"/> Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforces immigration laws, including removal, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) protects and monitors the nation’s borders.

      U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

      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

      The Department of State

      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.

      State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs

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

       Issuing passports (approximately 11.71 million U.S. passports were issued in 2020 alone)

       Providing information about safely traveling and living abroad

       Warning travelers of particularly dangerous areas

       Helping U.S. citizens traveling overseas to obtain emergency funds

       Checking on the whereabouts or welfare of U.S. citizens traveling or living abroad

       Helping families in the event a U.S. citizen’s loved one dies while traveling overseas

       Aiding U.S. travelers who become sick while traveling overseas

       Providing assistance to U.S. travelers who get arrested overseas

       Assisting in international adoptions and custody disputes

       Protecting and assisting U.S. citizens living or traveling abroad during international crises

       Distributing federal benefits payments

       Assisting with oversees absentee voting and Selective Service registration

      In addition to providing services to U.S. citizens, the Department of State issues visas for foreigners who want to enter the United States. In fact, they issued more than 240,000 immigrant visas and 4 million nonimmigrant visas in 2020 (down from a recent high of 617,000 immigrant visas and 10 million nonimmigrant visas in 2016). When it comes time for you to get a visa, whether it is a temporary visa or a permanent visa, you’ll deal with the Department of State.

      

The USCIS must first approve your immigrant visa before forwarding it to the National Visa Center (NVC), a processing facility of the U.S. State Department, for further processing. The NVC will issue more paperwork for you to complete, and when you’ve completed that paperwork satisfactorily, the NVC will assign you an immigrant visa number. The State Department issues a monthly guide called the Visa Bulletin, explaining the status of various classes of immigrant visas. The Visa Bulletin charts visa availability for both family- and employer-sponsored immigrants based on priority date (the date the sponsoring petition was filed). Some categories, such as the fourth preference for siblings of U.S. citizens, are usually several years behind, while other categories may be current. (You can find out more about preference categories in Chapter 3.)

      

To access the Visa Bulletin go to the State Department website (www.state.gov). You can obtain past issues of the Visa Bulletin at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html.

      HOW THE STATE DEPARTMENT HELPS ASYLUM SEEKERS

      The State Department also has a huge impact on refugees and those seeking asylum — the millions of people each year who are displaced by war, famine, and civil and political unrest or those who are escaping persecution and the risk of death and torture in their home countries.

The difference between those seeking asylum and refugee admission is important. A refugee is someone who is living outside the United States and outside their home country who petitions the U.S. government for lawful permanent residence in order to escape intolerable conditions in their home country. An asylum-seeker is someone already in the United States or someone seeking admission at a U.S. entry point when they apply to the U.S. government for permission to stay.

      State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

      The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) is a bureau within the United States Department of State. It has primary responsibility for formulating policies on population, refugees, and migration, and for administering U.S. refugee assistance and admissions programs. It develops policy, coordinates funding, and manages refugee resettlement in the United States with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and other aid groups.

      Each year, the State Department prepares a report to Congress on proposed refugee admissions. Congress then advises the president on the proposed ceilings (limits) on refugee admissions for that fiscal (financial) year. Asylum-seekers are not subject to the refugee admissions set by Congress — at least not until they become asylees (those granted asylum) and seek permanent residence.

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