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On February 6, 2002, President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate Eduardo Aguirre, Jr., to be Acting Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Created by the Homeland Security Act (HSA), the BCIS will assume all immigration service functions previously performed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, including the adjudication of immigrant visa petitions, naturalization petitions, asylum and refugee applications, adjudications performed at INS Service Centers, and all other adjudications performed by the INS before March 1, 2003. The head of the BCIS will report directly to the DHS's Deputy Secretary. Mr. Aguirre has been most recently Vice Chairman and First Vice President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. A Cuban immigrant from Texas, he was a former University of Houston regent, and was the regents' chairman for two years. Mr. Aguirre immigrated to the U.S. as one of thousands of Cuban children who were sent by their parents between 1960 and 1962, a wave of immigration known as Operation Pedro Pan. Mr. Aguirre is a graduate of Louisiana State University and the American Banking Association's National Commercial Lending Graduate School at the University of Oklahoma.
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INS Campaign Seeks LIFE Legalization Applicants (2/10/03)
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) recently announced an outreach campaign to encourage eligible aliens to file
for legalization benefits under the Legal Immigration Family Equity (LIFE) Act, in order to adjust their status to permanent
residence. The campaign is aimed at over 200,000 long-term U.S. residents who are believed to be eligible to apply for legal status
under a provision of the LIFE Act. The deadline for filing such applications is June 4, 2003.
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INS Responds to Federal Document Shredding Indictments (2/10/03)
On January 29, 2003, the manager and a supervisor of an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) data processing center in
Laguna Niguel, California, was charged with illegally shredding up to 90,000 documents, including such items as passports, asylum
applications, birth certificates, visas, and employment authorization documents. Upon learning of the shredding, the INS said it
immediately ordered the cessation of all contractor shredding activities at the facility and notified the United States Attorney's
office of possible wrongdoing. The indictments were the result of investigations conducted by the INS's Office of Internal Audit,
the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, and the Office of the United States Attorney for Southern California.
Those who had filed applications and petitions at the California Service Center but had not yet received a receipt for their
applications were urged to call a hotline at the Center to inquire about the status of their cases (1-949-831-8427).
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Administration Seeks Merger of Border Functions in DHS Reorganization (2/3/03)
The new U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on January 30 that the Bush administration is modifying the
department's Border and Transportation Security Directorate in order to combine all border security and inspection functions
previously carried out by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the Border Patrol, the Customs Service, and the Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture. Specifically, President Bush is creating a Bureau of Customs
and Border Protection (BCBP), and is renaming the BBS as the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), which will merge
the enforcement and investigative arms of the Customs Service, the INS, and the Federal Protective Service. The BCBP will focus on
the movement of goods and people across the border, while the BICE will focus on interior enforcement of immigration and customs
laws, and the protection of federal buildings. Both bureaus will report directly to the Under Secretary for Border and Transportation
Security, Asa Hutchinson. The proposed restructuring will leave immigration service functions with the directorate's Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS).
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INS Terminates TPS Designation for Angola (2/3/03)
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)'s most recent designation of Angola for temporary protected status (TPS)
expires on March 29, 2003, and Attorney General John Ashcroft has decided that conditions in Angola no longer support a TPS
designation. Accordingly, the INS is terminating TPS for Angola, effective on that date, a notice published on January 27 said. The
INS estimated that there are approximately 316 aliens receiving Angolan TPS benefits. The INS pointed out that, despite the TPS
termination, there may be other avenues of immigration relief and protection available to aliens who are nationals of Angola, or
aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Angola, who are now in the U.S. and believe that their particular
circumstances make return to Angola unsafe - for example, asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under Article 3 of the
U.N. Convention Against Torture. After the designation of TPS is terminated effective March 29, 2003, former TPS beneficiaries
will maintain the same immigration status they held before TPS, unless that status has since expired or been terminated, or any
other status they may have acquired while registered for TPS.
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