U.S. Customs and Border Protection

All individuals attempting to enter the U.S. must first demonstrate their admissibility to U.S. Customs and Border Protection ("CBP"). This applies to all foreign nationals, including those who have already been issued a visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad, as well as those who are visa-exempt.

Part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CBP is the largest uniformed law enforcement agency in the United States, with 18,000 officers stationed at access points nationwide. It is the agency responsible for protecting the borders of the U.S. and, therefore, controls access to the country. CBP is responsible for protecting the nation’s 325 ports of entry and enforcing hundreds of laws designed to protect citizens and commerce. Among the laws CBP must enforce are the immigration laws of the U.S. In carrying out its immigration enforcement duties, CBP can question, investigate, and detain arriving aliens at U.S. ports of entry.

Read more about CBP and Border Patrol.

Introduction to U.S. Immigration Law

Welcome to BorderImmigrationLawyer.com! The purpose of this site is to provide the public with information about common U.S. immigration issues. Specifically, those issues arising at land border ports of entry.

U.S. immigration law is a very complicated area of law and can be extremely confusing to most individuals. In this author’s experience, understanding the U.S. immigration laws and processes began with a study of the government agencies that are charged with their administration and enforcement.

Immigration law is federal law, which means that the same laws apply throughout the country, in every state. It also means that federal agencies, not state or local, are responsible for administering and enforcing the immigration laws. There are several federal agencies that are involved with immigration in some way. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) is the primary federal agency charged with the administration and enforcement of the immigration laws. Other agencies with lesser, yet important, roles include the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of State.

Read more about federal immigration agencies.