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Authority to Enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in the Wake of the Homeland Security Act: Legal Issues

Description: For decades, the administrative authority to interpret, implement, enforce, and adjudicate immigration law within the U.S. lay almost exclusively with one officer: the Attorney General. The most general statement of this power was found in §103(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA), the statute that comprehensively regulates immigration law in the United States. With the transfer of nearly all immigration functions to the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003, ho… more
Date: July 16, 2003
Creator: Viña, Stephen R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Visa Issuances: Policy, Issues, and Legislation

Description: This report addresses policies on immigration visa issuances, options to reassign this function to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that were considered prior to passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296), and other policies options that may arise in the 108th Congress. It opens with an overview of visa issuances, with sections on procedures for aliens coming to live in the United States permanently and on procedures for aliens admitted for temporary stays. An analysis… more
Date: August 4, 2003
Creator: Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Consular Identification Cards: Domestic and Foreign Policy Implications, the Mexican Case, and Related Legislation

Description: The debate about consular identification cards in the United States has centered around the matrícula consular, the consular identification card issued by Mexican consulates to Mexican citizens in the United States. In May 2003, the Treasury Department issued regulations allowing acceptance of the cards as proof of identity for the purpose of opening a bank account, and the cards are accepted for other purposes as well, including issuance of drivers’ licenses.
Date: September 30, 2003
Creator: Bruno, Andorra & Storrs, K. Larry
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Expedited Citizenship Through Military Service: Policy and Issues

Description: This report discusses the interest in legislation to expand the citizenship benefits of aliens serving in the military. Multiple bills provide for expedited or posthumous citizenship as the result of military service (H.R. 1275, H.R. 1588, H.R. 1685, H.R. 1691, H.R. 1714, H.R. 1799, H.R. 1806, H.R. 1814, H.R. 1850, H.R. 1953, H.R. 1954, H.R. 2887, S. 783, S. 789, S. 897, S. 922, and S. 940). Variously, these bills would, among other things, reduce or eliminate the 3-year requirement for peaceti… more
Date: September 30, 2003
Creator: Lee, Margaret Mikyung
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Alien Tort Statute: Legislative History and Executive Branch Views

Description: The report provides a historical overview of court decisions interpreting the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), also known as the Alien Tort Claims Act (ACTA). The report then provides an overview of the positions taken by the U.S. government in published opinions of the Attorney General and in court briefs related to ATS claims.
Date: October 2, 2003
Creator: Elsea, Jennifer K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Border Security and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Description: The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to improve border security is a technique that has garnered congressional attention. This report examines the strengths and limitations of deploying UAVs along the borders and related issues for Congress. This report is not intended to provide in-depth information regarding technical or military capabilities of UAVs, but to discuss their application at the border.
Date: January 2, 2004
Creator: Blazakis, Jason
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Immigration: Alien Registration

Description: This report reviews the process of temporary legal residents becoming registered as U.S. citizens while providing preliminary factors involved before registration.
Date: January 6, 2004
Creator: Bruno, Andorra
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Farm Labor Shortages and Immigration Policy

Description: This report first explains the connection made over the past several years between farm labor and immigration policies. It next examines the composition of the seasonal agricultural labor force and presents the arguments of grower and farmworker advocates concerning its adequacy relative to employer demand. The report closes with an analysis of the trends in employment, unemployment, time worked and wages of authorized and unauthorized farmworkers to determine whether they are consistent with t… more
Date: February 9, 2004
Creator: Levine, Linda
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Visa Issuances: Policy, Issues, and Legislation

Description: This report opens with an overview of visa issuances, with sections on procedures for aliens coming to live in the United States permanently and on procedures for aliens admitted for temporary stays. It includes a discussion of visa screening policies, including inadmissibility, databases, an analysis of visa refusals, biometric visas and other major visa policy procedures. Summaries of key laws revising visa policy enacted in the 107th Congress follows. The final section analyzes selected issu… more
Date: February 11, 2004
Creator: Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Immigration: The Labor Market Effects of a Guest Worker Program for U.S. Farmers

Description: Temporary alien worker programs are meant to assure employers, including growers, of an adequate supply of labor when and where it is needed without adding permanent residents to the U.S. population. Guest worker programs are not supposed to harm the wage and job opportunities of U.S. workers while they alleviate spot labor shortages. President Bush’s proposal of a broad guest worker program has reignited interest in legislation introduced during the 108th Congress that relates specifically to … more
Date: February 20, 2004
Creator: Levine, Linda
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Enforcing Immigration Law: The Role of State and Local Law Enforcement

Description: This report examines the role of state and local law enforcement in enforcing immigration law. The discussion is limited to the role of state and local law enforcement in the investigation, arrest, and detention of all immigration violators. The report does not discuss the prosecution, adjudication, or removal of aliens who violate the law. The report opens with a brief discussion of the types of immigration interior enforcement activities that the former Immigration and Naturalization Service … more
Date: March 11, 2004
Creator: Seghetti, Lisa M.; Viña, Stephen R. & Ester, Karma
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR)

Description: This report introduces the adverse effect wage rate (AEWR) and the concerns out of which it grew, from the perspective of labor policy (not of immigration policy). American agricultural employers have long utilized foreign workers on a temporary basis, regarding them as an important manpower resource. Often employed at low wages and under adverse conditions, such alien workers, some argue, may compete unfairly with U.S. workers. To mitigate any "adverse effect" for the domestic workforce, a sys… more
Date: April 5, 2004
Creator: Whittaker, William G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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