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Immigration Law Research: Statutes & Legislation

Federal law preempts state regulation of immigration. Therefore, states have very little power regarding immigration; their powers are limited to adjudicating controversies that states have against aliens.  See 28 U.S.C. § 1251.  States are able to exercise powers over immigration policy in only a few ways. Most of their efforts lie in enforcing the criminal provisions of the federal immigration law, assisting in the apprehension of illegally present persons, and entering into agreements with the Department of Homeland Security to house detainees. In addition, some states choose to regulate immigration through their policies on drivers’ licenses and access to education and benefits. 

Applicable Statute

Federal immigration policy has been dictated by a number of laws over the years. Currently the Immigration and Nationality Act, Pub. L. No. 82-214, 66 Stat. 163, 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq. (2000) is the law governing immigration law and policy in the United States. The text of the current statute is available from various different sources, including the USCIS website (http://www.uscis.gov) on their “Laws and Policy” page which also includes a list with links of the many laws amending the INA over the years.

CRS Reports

CRS Reports are available on LexisAdvance which is available through the Library’s A to Z Resources page (https://wcl.american.libguides.com/az.php?a=all). To search CRS reports on LexisNexis Congressional:

  • Use Advanced Search
  • Choose CRS Reports
  • Enter Search Terms: Immigration Reform

In addition CRS Reports may be retrieved from various internet sources including Archive-It (http://www.archive-it.org/) and the CRS Reports main web page

Title 8 of the U.S. Code

The INA has been codified in Title 8 of the United States Code. The text of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is available from a number of sources.

The United States Code is available in the 3d Floor – Federal section of the library. In addition to the official United States Code, the library also has the United States Code Annotated.

The U.S. Code is also available electronically from the following sources:

Pending Legislation

Researching pending legislation in an Immigration case might be necessary. Pending legislation can be found on Congress.gov, on Govtrack. and in various loose leafs and current awareness sources described including:

Bender’s Immigration Bulletin (Matthew Bender 1996—). 2d Floor – General Collection (KF4802 .B46); LexisNexis (IMMBUL).

Interpreter Releases (Thomson/West 1923—). Reserve JK1751 .C55 (current editions); 2d Floor – General Collection JK1751 .C55; Westlaw (INTERREL).

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) — provides information on Pending Legislation, Policy Briefs, and Immigration News.

Westlaw has Immigration News in their IMM-NEWS database and Federal Immigration Bills in the FIM-BLLTXT database.

Legislative History

Legislative histories are used to interpret Congress’ intent when making the Immigration laws. There are a number of different compiled legislative histories and sources for retrieving legislative history documents.

Compiled Legislative Histories

Peggy Roebuck Jarrett, The Department of Homeland Security: A Compilation of Government Documents Relating to Executive Reorganization (W.S. Hein 2003) is available via HeinOnline.

Edward Prince Hutchinson, Legislative History of American Immigration Policy, 1798-1965. (Univ. Penn. Press 1981). 2nd Floor – General Collection KF4805.8 1981. This work is also available via JSTOR EBA (WRLC)

Other Legislative Histories may be available in the U.S. Federal Legislative History Library via HeinOnline.