The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be able to carry firearms, investigate immigration law violators, execute search and arrest warrants, and exercise other normal U.S. federal law enforcement powers.
The new rule, published Monday in the Federal Register, also gives the USCIS director the ability to order expedited deportations and to investigate civil and criminal violations of immigration laws under the agency’s jurisdiction.
USCIS said Thursday in a statement that it will have greater capacity to support the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security(DHS) by handling investigations from start to finish, rather than referring certain cases to the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The rule, which will take effect 30 days after its publication, will allow ICE, HSI and the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) office to focus on dismantling transnational crime and apprehending and deporting undocumented immigrants.
USCIS will be able to expedite the clearing of backlogs of cases of aliens who seek to “exploit the immigration system through fraud, prosecute them, and remove them from the country,” the agency said in the statement.
The federal agency thus plans to recruit and train “special agents” who will exercise these new powers and will be classified as USCIS 1811.
This action allows USCIS to implement the delegation of certain authority granted by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to fully carry out “its national security, fraud detection, and public protection missions related to immigration processing.”
As Secretary Noem delegated statutory authority to expand the agency’s enforcement capabilities, this rule enables us to fulfill our critical mission,” said Joseph B. Edlow, USCIS Director.
He added that the rule “will better address immigration crime, hold those who commit immigration fraud accountable, and act as a force multiplier for DHS and our federal security partners, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
The rule will become effective 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register, according to information from EFE.
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