DHS Watch : Paper Transition of Agencies Complete
Posted Mar 07, 2003

As anticipated, the INS no longer exists. It officially has been replaced by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE). The BICE is responsible for immigration investigations, customs investigations, customs air and marine interdiction, federal protective service, detention and removal, immigration intelligence, and customs intelligence.

The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP) has their website at <http://cbp.customs.gov/>. Approximately 30,000 inspectors from the Customs Service, INS, and the Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Bureau of Agriculture will now work together under the new bureau. The Border Patrol, formerly a part of INS, has also joined the BCBP. Both the BICE and the BCBP named new interim management directors. The BICE has 36 interim directors and the BCBP has 20 interim Field Operations directors.

To date, we have not seen any appreciable changes in the way cases are processed. We will continue to monitor the new immigration bureaus for any changes that will be of interest to our MurthyBulletin and MurthyDotCom readers.