In the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, immigration officials have become even more vigilant. A push to reorganize the functions of INS to make the agency run better resulted in Congressional action in the spring of 2002, when the House of Representatives voted to authorize significant changes to the agency. Those seeking updated information on current progress at INS can obtain comprehensive information from the agency’s web site, http://www.ins.usdoj.gov.

INS Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) includes the Office of the Chief Administrative Judge (whose office oversees some 220 Immigration Judges across the country), the office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (responsible for hearing cases mostly about illegal employment practices), and the Board of Immigration Appeals (the highest administrative body dealing with immigration law). Many appeals of rejected applications can be handled at one of the 512 regional INS offices across the country, where an immigration judge can issue a ruling.

Because immigration issues are so specialized and complicated, it is a good idea to find either an immigration lawyer (some of whom may offer pro bono services) or an organization that deals with immigration issues. The INS website, in addition to providing updated news, offers a wide variety of explanatory documents on all aspects and phases of the immigration process.