Speech #1020008000

Mr. President. I am pleased to introduce today a resolution commemorating the Immigration and Naturalization Service on its centennial anniversary. The first immigration office in the Federal Government was created in 1864 by a law intended to encourage immigration. Under this law. the President appointed a Commissioner of Immigration within the State Department to regulate the transportation and settlement of emigrants but the law had no effect on the commissions. boards. or other officers who were responsible for immigration in each of the States. The Commissioners office was abolished when the law was repealed 4 years later. Other Federal laws were passed in the 1880s to prevent the admission of undesirable aliens and to control contract labor. but authority over immigration. including enforcement of the Federal statutes. remained at the State level. At the same time. the number of immigrants coming to America was rising rapidly. In 1888. Congress established a select committee to investigate problems caused by the divided authority over immigration matters. It recommended consolidating this authority within a single Federal agency and drafted legislation that Congress enacted as the Immigration Act of 1891. President Benjamin Harrison signed it into law on March 3. 1891. It established complete and definite Federal control over immigration by providing for an office of Superintendent of Immigration under the Secretary of the Treasury. As a result of this new law. all the duties previously deferred to the States were transferred by the end of fiscal year 1891 to U.S. inspection officers and the first Federal immigration organization was established on July 12. 1891. when the Bureau of Immigration began operations in the Treasury Department. Besides its headquarters in Washington. DC. the Bureau opened 24 border inspection stations at ports of entry along both borders and in major seaports. The Marine Hospital Service began conducting medical inspections of arriving immigrants. From this early structure. the immigration side of the present Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS) evolved. INS moved to the Department of Justice in June 1940 as a result of a reorganization plan based on concerns of national security. The transfer was meant to provide more effective control over aliens at a time when international tensions were increasing. Changes in INS enforcement priorities required closer cooperation with Federal prosecutors and the FBI. During the past 100 years. more than 40 million immigrants of all nationalities have come to the United States. One of the few things they all did in common was to meet an officer of the Federal agency that is now known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This year marks the centennial of INS. It is a rare privilege to celebrate a 100th birthday. so it is fitting that we set aside a whole year as an opportunity to recall and retell the history of "A Century of Service to a Nation of Immigrants." I urge my colleagues to Join me in supporting this resolution. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this resolution be printed at the end of my remarks.