Dissolution of the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization and Customs Service and the creation of separate agencies under the Department of Homeland Security.
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1933 to 2003.
Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, the agency ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred to three new entities – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as part of a major government reorganization following the …show more content…

economic, transportation, and infrastructure security. ICE has two primary components: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). A third directorate, Management and Administration (M&A), is charged with providing professional management and mission support to advance the ICE mission. ERO enforces the nation's immigration laws in a fair and effective manner. It identifies and apprehends removable aliens, detains these individuals when necessary and removes illegal aliens from the United States. This unit prioritizes the apprehension, arrest and removal of convicted criminals, those who pose a threat to national security, fugitives and recent border entrants. Individuals seeking asylum also work with ERO. The HSI directorate is responsible for investigating a wide range of domestic and international activities arising from the illegal movement of people and goods into, within and out of the United States. ICE's Management and Administration includes professional managers and mission support staff who make the ICE mission possible.
The major difference between ICE and CBP is that while CBP is responsible for enforcing immigration laws at and near the borders, ICE is responsible for enforcing immigration laws within the remaining areas of the U.S.
Most ICE offices and programs have a role in preventing terrorism. Several are on the front