5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable · Needs Congress
Create a criminal enforcement component inside USCIS
Printed page 144 5. Department of Homeland Security
“Additionally, USCIS should create a criminal enforcement component within the agency to investigate immigration benefits fraud under Title 8 (perhaps requiring additional legislative and regulatory authorities for the officers themselves) and to prosecute cases through Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys (SAUSAs) with substantive knowledge in the field.”
What has happened
- Partially done
DHS codified the law-enforcement authorities delegated to USCIS officers: the rule amends 8 CFR to give named USCIS personnel authority to "investigate and enforce civil and criminal violations of the immigration laws within the jurisdiction of USCIS", including "the issuance and execution of warrants, the arrest of individuals, and carrying of firearms". The Quote itself anticipates that its criminal enforcement component would need "additional legislative and regulatory authorities for the officers themselves"; the regulatory half is now in place. It is `partial` rather than `done` because no criminal enforcement component has been established inside USCIS, no legislation has been sought, and nothing shows cases being prosecuted through Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
A Requires-Congress ask whose regulatory half the executive delivered on its own.
- Action
- create
- Object
- USCIS criminal enforcement component
- ID
- 322