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Timeline of immigration enforcement in the United States

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! Time period !! class="unsortable" | People in charge !! class="unsortable" | Key developments
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| Prior to 1891 || Many people || There is no immigration enforcement to speak of. The only enforcement that occurs is at ports of entry, and this begins with the [[wikipedia:Immigration Act of 1882{{w|Immigration Act of 1882]]}}.
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| 1891 to (approximately) 1982 || Many people || There is very little ''systematic'' immigration enforcement, either at the border or in the interior (excluding immigrant processing at ports of entry). Immigration enforcement happens in waves, with large, one-off operations such as the Mexican repatriation and Operation Wetback.
| 2001{{snd}}2008 || President: {{w|George W. Bush}}<br/>INS Commissioner: James Ziglar<br/>Secretary for Homeland Security: {{w|Tom Ridge}}, {{w|Michael Chertoff}} || The {{w|September 11 attacks}} in 2001 result in a significant increase in focus on border security, and combating terrorism becomes an important focus of visa policy and immigration enforcement. The INS is disbanded and the {{w|U.S. Department of Homeland Security}} is created; functions of the INS are transferred to new sub-agencies of this department. The period sees continued expansion of removal methods such as expedited removal and {{w|stipulated removal}}, the end of [[w:catch and release (U.S. immigration policy)|catch and release]], and a number of enforcement initiatives such as {{w|Operation Endgame}}, {{w|Operation Front Line}}, {{w|Operation Streamline}}, {{w|Operation Jump Start}}, and {{w|Operation Return to Sender}}. Legislative efforts towards Comprehensive Immigration Reform fail.
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| 2009{{snd}}2016 || President: {{w|Barack Obama}}<br/>Secretary for Homeland Security: {{w|Janet Napolitano}}, {{w|Jeh Johnson}} || The era begins with continued ramp-up by the Obama administration of policies initiated in the Bush era, such as [[wikipedia:Secure Communities{{w|Secure Communities]]}}. State governments, beginning with Arizona, pass or attempt to pass legislation that uses state and local government resources to help enforce federal immigration law, leading to lawsuits. Starting with the 2011 Morton memos and the 2012 announcement of DACA, the Obama administration begins to carve out subsets of the unauthorized alien population that it will not try to deport, so that they can continue to live more easily in United States civil society.
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| 2017{{snd}}2020 || President: {{w|Donald Trump}}<br/>Secretary for Homeland Security: {{w|John F. Kelly}}, {{w|Elaine Duke}}, {{w|Kirstjen Nielsen}}, {{w|Kevin McAleenan}}, {{w|Chad Wolf}}<br/>Others: {{w|Stephen Miller (political advisor)}}, {{w|Jeff Sessions}} (Attorney General), {{w|Steve Bannon}} (Senior Counselor to the President) || The election of [[wikipedia:Donald Trump{{w|Donald Trump]] }} as the President of the United States results in stronger immigration enforcement, though Trump's efforts (including the initiative to build a {{w|Trump wall}}) are stymied by insufficient cooperation from Congress.
|}
! Year !! Month and date (if available) !! Event type !! Affected agencies (past, and present equivalents) !! Details
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| 1891 || March 3 || Legislation || Executive branch || The [[wikipedia:Immigration Act of 1891{{w|Immigration Act of 1891]] }} is signed into law by President [[wikipedia:Benjamin Harrison{{w|Benjamin Harrison]]}}, after being passed by the [[wikipedia:51st United States Congress{{w|51st United States Congress]]}}. The Act expands the categories of excludable migrants, provides for more enforcement at land and sea borders, and adds authority to deport and penalties for people aiding and abetting migration.<ref name=uwb-fulltext-1891>{{cite web|url = http://library.uwb.edu/static/USimmigration/26%20stat%201084.pdf|title = An act in amendment to the various acts relative to immigration and the imortation of aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor.|date = March 3, 1891|accessdate = March 9, 2016}}</ref><ref name=suny-summary>{{cite web|url = http://people.sunyulster.edu/voughth/immlaws1875_1918.htm|title = Summary of Immigration Laws, 1875-1918|accessdate = March 9, 2016}}</ref><ref name=i2us>{{cite web|url = http://immigrationtounitedstates.org/585-immigration-act-of-1891.html|title = Immigration Act of 1891|accessdate = March 9, 2016|publisher = Immigration to the United States|last = Hester|first = Torrie}}</ref><ref name=immigration-legal-history>{{cite web|url = https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Legal_History_of_Immigration|title = Legal History of Immigration|publisher = FamilySearch|accessdate = March 11, 2016}}</ref> It also creates an Office of Superintendent of Immigration, and places it under the Department of the Treasury.<ref name=uscis-organizational-timeline>{{cite web|url = https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/organizational-timeline|title = Organizational Timeline|publisher = [[wikipedia:United States Citizenship and Immigration Services|United States Citizenship and Immigration Services]]|accessdate = March 31, 2017}}</ref>
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| 1904 || || Program rollout || Executive branch || Mounted watchmen under the United States Department of Commerce and Labor (which is tasked with immigrant processing and immigration enforcement) begin patrolling the border. However, efforts are sporadic. This is an early predecessor to what would later become the [[wikipedia:United States Border Patrol{{w|United States Border Patrol]]}}.
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| 1915 || March || Program rollout || Executive branch || The United States Congress authorizes a separate group of mounted guards, called "mounted inspectors", who use horses, automobiles, motorcycles, and boats to patrol the border. However, these inspectors were immigration inspectors as well, i.e., they were juggling the job of processing entry at ports of entry along with patrolling the rest of the border. (Presently, the functions of immigrant processing and border monitoring are handled by separate divisions -- CBP Office of Field Operations and United States Border Patrol).
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| 1924 || May 28 || Organizational restructuring || United States Border Patrol || The [[wikipedia:United States Border Patrol{{w|United States Border Patrol]] }} is created as an agency of the [[wikipedia:United States Department of Labor{{w|United States Department of Labor]] }} by the Labor Appropriations Act of 1924, to prevent illegal entries along the [[wikipedia:Mexico–United States border{{w|Mexico–United States border]] }} and [[wikipedia:Canada–United States border{{w|Canada–United States border]]}}.<ref name=border-patrol-history>{{cite web|url = https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/history|title = Border Patrol History|accessdate = April 7, 2017|publisher = [[wikipedia:U.S. Customs and Border Protection|U.S. Customs and Border Protection]]}}</ref> The first station is set up in [[wikipedia:{{w|Detroit|Detroit]]}}, [[wikipedia:Michigan{{w|Michigan]] }} in June 1924.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/detroit-sector-selfridge-angb-michigan/detroit-station|title = Detroit Station|publisher = [[wikipedia:U.S. Customs and Border Protection|U.S. Customs and Border Protection]]|accessdate = April 7, 2017}}</ref> The next station opens in July, 1924, in [[wikipedia:El Paso, Texas{{w|El Paso, Texas]]}}.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/border-patrol-sectors/el-paso-sector-texas|title = El Paso Sector Texas|publisher = [[wikipedia:U.S. Customs and Border Protection|U.S. Customs and Border Protection]]|accessdate = April 7, 2017}}</ref>
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| 1929 || || Program rollout || Executive branch || The [[wikipedia:Mexican Repatriation{{w|Mexican Repatriation]] }} begins. It is an effort to deport people of Mexican origin and Mexican descent, including those who arrived both legally and illegally, and also including some who are United States citizens. It is initiated by President [[wikipedia:Herbert Hoover{{w|Herbert Hoover]] }} in the wake of the stock market crash of 1929. The program ends in 1936. Exact numbers of people affected are unclear, though estimates range from 500,000 to 2,000,000. One reason for the unclear estimates is that a lot of people leave voluntarily in the face of the depression, and some of them leave partly because of harassment by authorities (that is part of the repatriation program). The program ends in 1936.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Byza6YM2bukC|title=The Praeger Handbook of Latino Education in the U.S.|last=Rosales|first=F. Arturo|date=2007-01-01|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=|isbn=9780313338304|editor-last=Soto|editor-first=Lourdes Diaz|location=|pages=400–403|language=en|chapter=Repatriation of Mexicans from the US|quote=|via=}}</ref><ref name="johnson">{{cite news|url=http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=plr|title=The Forgotten Repatriation of Persons of Mexican Ancestry and Lessons for the War on Terror|last=Johnson|first=Kevin|date=Fall 2005|newspaper=|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|publisher=Pace Law Review|work=|issue=1|location=Davis, California|volume=26|via=}}</ref> [[wikipediaw:United States|American]] federal and state authorities blame Mexicans for the overall economic downturn,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CKf8_WF7ppEC|title=Latino Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook|last=Navarro|first=Sharon Ann|last2=Mejia|first2=Armando Xavier|date=2004-01-01|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=|isbn=9781851095230|location=|pages=23|language=en|quote=|via=}}</ref> and target Mexicans because of "the proximity of the Mexican border, the physical distinctiveness of [[wikipedia:mestizos|mestizos]], and easily identifiable barrios."<ref name=":3">{{cite book|title=Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America|last=Ruiz|first=Vicki L.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|location=New York|pages=|quote=|via=|ISBN=0-19-513099-5}}</ref>{{Rp|29}}
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| 1954 || May || Program rollout || Immigration and Naturalization Services || INS Commissioner [[wikipedia:Joseph Swing{{w|Joseph Swing]] }} initiates [[wikipedia:Operation Wetback{{w|Operation Wetback]]}}, a large-scale operation to crack down on illegal immigration from Mexico for agricultural labor. The program is launched while the [[wikipedia:Bracero program{{w|Bracero program]]}}, a guest worker program for agricultural labor, is active. Despite the availability of the Bracero program, many employers and workers choose not to use the program because of the high compliance costs.
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| 1956 || || Program rollout || Immigration and Naturalization Services || The {{w|Chinese Confession Program}} starts. The program seeks confessions of illegal entry from US citizens and residents of Chinese origin, with the (somewhat misleading) offer of legalization of status in exchange. It would end in 1965 with the passage of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965.
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| 1981 || January 20 || Leadership change || Executive branch || Republican politician [[wikipedia:Ronald Reagan{{w|Ronald Reagan]] }} is sworn in as [[wikipedia:President of the United States{{w|President of the United States]]}}.
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| 1982 || February 22 || Leadership change || Immigration and Naturalization Services || [[wikipedia:Alan C. Nelson{{w|Alan C. Nelson]] }} becomes the Comissioner of the INS, working under President [[wikipedia:Ronald Reagan{{w|Ronald Reagan]]}}.<ref name=uscis-nelson-bio>{{cite web|url = https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history-8|title = Alan C. Nelson: Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service, February 22, 1982 - June 16, 1989|date = February 4, 2016|accessdate = October 24, 2016|publisher = [[wikipedia:United States Citizenship and Immigration Services|United States Citizenship and Immigration Services]]}}</ref>
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| 1983 || January 9 || Organizational restructuring || Executive Office for Immigration Review, Board of Immigration Appeals, Immigration and Naturalization Services || The [[wikipedia:Executive Office for Immigration Review{{w|Executive Office for Immigration Review]] }} (EOIR) is created as part of the U.S. Department of Justice. The EOIR combines two pre-existing functions: the [[wikipedia:Board of Immigration Appeals{{w|Board of Immigration Appeals]] }} (also originally under the DOJ) and the Immigration Judge function (carried out previously by the INS, which was at the time under the DOJ).<ref name=eoir-history>{{cite web|url = https://www.justice.gov/eoir/about-office|title = About the Office|publisher = [[wikipedia:Executive Office for Immigration Review|Executive Office for Immigration Review]]|accessdate = March 18, 2017}}</ref>
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| 1985 || February || Leadership change || U.S. Department of Justice || [[wikipedia:Edwin Meese{{w|Edwin Meese]] }} becomes [[wikipedia:United States Attorney General{{w|United States Attorney General]]}}.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/24/us/senate-approves-meese-to-become-attorney-general.html|title = SENATE APPROVES MEESE TO BECOME ATTORNEY GENERAL|author = Leslie Maitland Wiener|date = February 24, 1985|accessdate = March 19, 2017|publisher = [[wikipedia:New York Times|New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1989-08-09/news/mn-107_1_wedtech-scandal |title=Wallach Found Guilty of Racketeering, Fraud: Meese's Friend, Two Others Convicted in Wedtech Scandal |date=1989-08-09 |first=Robert L. |last=Jackson |author2=John J. Goldman |publisher=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> The Attorney General heads the U.S. Department of Justice, and prior to the September 11 attacks, the INS was under the Department of Justice.
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| 1986 || November 6 || Legislation (landmark) || Immigration and Naturalization Services; current equivalent: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services || The [[wikipedia:Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986{{w|Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986]] }} (IRCA) is signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, after passing both houses of the [[wikipedia:99th United States Congress|99th United States Congress]] after three years of legislative back-and-forth. The key sponsors are [[wikipedia:Alan K. Simpson|Alan K. Simpson]] and [[wikipedia:Romano L. Mazzoli|Romano L. Mazzoli]], so the act is also known as the Simpson–Mazzoli Act. This combines an amnesty for people who have been present in the United States for a while, a restructuring of the H-2 program splitting it into the H-2A (unlimited temporary agricultural workers) and H-2B (other temporary workers), and more resources into enforcement.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-100/pdf/STATUTE-100-Pg3445.pdf|title = Public Law 99-603|date = November 6, 1986|accessdate = March 15, 2017|publisher = [[wikipedia:United States Government Publishing Office|United States Government Publishing Office]]}}</ref>
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| 1987 || October 21 || Deferred action || Immigration and Naturalization Services || Alan C. Nelson, INS Commissioner announces [[User:Vipul/Family Fairness|Family Fairness]], a deferred action policy for children (and, in rare cases, spouses) of people eligible to legalie per the IRCA, to solve the problem of split-eligibility families.<ref name=aic>{{cite web|url = https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/reagan-bush-family-fairness-chronological-history|title = Reagan-Bush Family Fairness: A Chronological History|date = December 9, 2014|accessdate = February 5, 2017|publisher = American Immigration Council}}</ref>
| 2002 || November || Program rollout || Immigration and Naturalization Services; current equivalents: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services || The [[wikipedia:credible fear|credible fear]] screening process is introduced by the INS.<ref name=ins-fact-sheet>{{cite web|url=http://www.vdare.com/articles/ins-fact-sheet-expedited-removal|title = INS Fact Sheet Expedited Removal|last = Mann|first = Juan|date = November 11, 2002|accessdate = July 19, 2015}}</ref><ref name=humanrightsfirst>{{cite web|url=http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/Key-Findings-Asylum-US-Mexico-Border.pdf|title = Key Statistics and Findings on Asylum Protection at the U.S.-Mexico Border|date = June 1, 2014|accessdate = June 3, 2015|publisher = Human Rights First}}</ref> The introduction of this process is to address concerns about the wrongful removal of people eligible for asylum through the expanded [[wikipedia:expedited removal|expedited removal]] process.
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| 2002 || November 25 || Organizational restructuring || U.S. Department of Homeland Security || The [[wikipedia:United States Department of Homeland Security{{w|United States Department of Homeland Security]] }} (DHS) comes into formal existence. Eventually, the functions handled by the INS (which was under the Department of Justice) would move to the DHS.
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| 2003 || March 1 || Organizational restructuring || Immigration and Naturalization Services and U.S. Department of Homeland Security || The Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) (that was under the Department of Justice) is disbanded. Its functions are divided into three sub-agencies of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: [[wikipedia:United States Citizenship and Immigration Services{{w|United States Citizenship and Immigration Services]] }} (USCIS), [[wikipedia:{{w|U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement|Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] }} (ICE), and [[wikipedia:{{w|U.S. Customs and Border Protection|Customs and Border Protection]] }} (CBP).
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| 2003 || || Program rollout || U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, specifically the subdivision Detention and Removal Operations (DRO); current equivalent of subdivision is Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) || The Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) office inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launches [[wikipedia:Operation Endgame{{w|Operation Endgame]] }} with the goal of removing all removable aliens and suspected terrorists.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/11/operation-endgame-purge-legal-immigrants|title = 'Operation Endgame' and the profitable purge of legal immigrants|last = Walshe|first = Sadhbh|date = July 11, 2012|accessdate = March 19, 2017|publisher = ''[[wikipedia:The Guardian|The Guardian]]''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.counterpunch.org/2008/06/07/the-deterrence-strategy-of-homeland-security/|title = The Deterrence Strategy of Homeland Security|last = Barry|first = Tom|date = June 7, 2008|accessdate = March 19, 2017|publisher = CounterPunch}}</ref>
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| 2003 || || Program rollout || U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement || The National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP) is created.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/ice-fugitive-operations-program|title = Collateral Damage: An Examination of ICE's Fugitive Operations Program|last = Wishnie|first = Michael|last2 = Mendelson|first2 = Margot|last3 = Strom|first3 = Shayna|publisher = [[wikipedia:Migration Policy Institute|Migration Policy Institute]]|accessdate = March 20, 2017}}</ref> While part of ICE's efforts to deport criminal aliens, it is ''not'' part of the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) under which other related initiatives fall.<ref name=crs-cap/>
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