The Trump administration said Thursday that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — the primary government agency that processes green cards and citizenship applications — will soon add armed agents authorized to make arrests.
USCIS reviews applications and interviews immigrants seeking to remain in the United States legally by obtaining green cards, being approved for humanitarian programs, or becoming naturalized citizens.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the move is a huge change for the agency, which has historically been kept separate from immigration enforcement operations.
In a statement Thursday, USCIS said it will be authorized to add “special agents” under the new rule who “will be empowered to investigate, arrest, and present for prosecution those who violate America’s immigration laws.” The agency added that the final rule will take effect 30 days from its publication.
The rule states that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gives USCIS the authority to hire agents who can carry guns, execute search and arrest warrants, and make arrests, and who will possess “other powers standard for federal law enforcement.”
“USCIS has always been an enforcement agency. By upholding the integrity of our immigration system, we enforce the laws of this nation,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in the statement. “This historic moment will better address immigration crimes, hold those that perpetrate immigration fraud accountable, and act as a force multiplier for DHS and our federal law enforcement partners, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
The agency will also “be able to more efficiently clear its backlogs of aliens who seek to exploit our immigration system through fraud, prosecute them, and remove them from the country,” it said in the statement.
According to Edlow, USCIS plans to train several hundred federal special agents whose duties will include reviewing applications for immigration fraud and arresting those responsible, including immigrants and their lawyers.
Former agency officials and other critics say that placing law enforcement agents at interview sites — where they could potentially arrest immigrants — may have a chilling effect on applicants’ willingness to pursue benefits for which they are eligible.
“I’m not expecting this to have a chilling effect on applications,” Edlow said. “I’m expecting this to have a chilling effect on fraudulent applications, and that’s what I want.”
The move comes as the Trump administration looks for new ways to ramp up immigration enforcement operations with a stated goal of deporting 1 million illegal immigrants a year.
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