Congressional Action on Homeland Security Bills
Posted Aug 19, 2002

On July 26, 2002, both the U.S. House of Representatives (House) and the U.S. Senate addressed the pending Homeland Security legislation prior to leaving for their summer recesses. The Senate recess is from August 5^th to September 2, 2002. The House recess, or "summer district work period," is from July 29^th to September 3, 2002. Further action on these and other pending legislative initiatives is expected to resume in September 2002.

The House passed H.R. 5005, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, by a vote of 295 to 132. The bill splits the INS, with the services (processing of applications for immigration benefits) operations remaining under the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the enforcement and inspections functions being merged into the newly created Homeland Security Department. The Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), which contains the Immigration Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals, would also be moved to the Homeland Security Department under this bill. Visa processing policy issues would be governed by Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of State would retain responsibility for visa issuance.

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee completed marking up S. 2452 [See our August 2, 2002 article, The Legislative Process – How a Bill Becomes a Law for an explanation of "marking up."], The National Homeland Security and Combating Terrorism Act of 2002. This is the Senate version of H.R. 5005. The bill moves the law enforcement components of the INS relating to border patrol, inspections, investigations, intelligence, detention, and removal to the Homeland Security Department. It creates an Agency for Immigration Hearings and Appeals within the DOJ, to handle the work of the EOIR. It would also move visa processing policy issues to the Homeland Security Department, with the U.S. Department of State issuing visas.

As this legislation will ultimately mean a substantial restructuring of the INS and the EOIR, we will continue to follow developments and keep MurthyBulletin subscribers and MurthyDotCom readers apprised.