United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS)
The federal agency within the Department of Homeland Security that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. Among the services they provide are citizenship, immigration of family members, working in the US, humanitarian programs, and adoptions.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)
An agency of the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for preventing the unauthorized entry of people and goods while facilitating legitimate travel and trade.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
The principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration.
Humanitarian programs provide protection to individuals inside and outside the United States who are displaced by war, famine and civil and political unrest, and those who are forced to flee their countries to escape the risk of death and torture at the hands of persecutors. Some of the programs include: refugee, asylum, and temporary protected status (TPS).
According to the USCIS:
– a refugee is a person outside his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
– an asylee is a person who meets the definition of refugee and is already present in the United States or is seeking admission at a port of entry.
Obtaining Asylum in the United States:
Unlike refugee admissions, there is no limit on the number of individuals who may be granted asylum in the United States. According to USCIS, the 2 ways of obtaining asylum in the United States are through the affirmative process or the defensive process:
| Affirmative | Defensive |
| Individual has not been placed in removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge | Individual has been placed in removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge |
| Individual affirmatively submits Form I-589 to USCIS | Individual: Placed in removal proceedings by an Asylum Officer (after a having a credible fear interview); or is placed in removal proceedings for immigration violations; or tried to enter the US without proper documents and was found to have a credible fear of persecution or torture |
| Individual appears before a USCIS Asylum Officer for a non-adversarial interview | Individual appears before an Immigration Judge with the Executive Office for Immigration Review for an adversarial, court-like hearing |
| A non-adversarial proceeding is one in which the parties are not in opposition to each other | Adversarial proceedings, such as civil and criminal court proceedings, where two sides oppose each other by advocating their mutually exclusive positions before a neutral arbiter until one side prevails and the other side loses |
Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Security may designate a foreign country for TPS due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately. USCIS may grant TPS to eligible nationals of certain countries (or parts of countries), who are already in the United States.
The Congressional Research Service states that TPS is a blanket form of humanitarian relief. It is the statutory embodiment of safe haven for foreign nationals within the United States who may not meet the legal definition of refugee or asylee but are nonetheless fleeing—or reluctant to return to—potentially dangerous situations.
The Secretary may designate a country for TPS due to the following temporary conditions in the country:
- Ongoing armed conflict (such as civil war)
- An environmental disaster (such as an earthquake or hurricane), or an epidemic
- Other extraordinary and temporary conditions
Humanitarian parole if you have a compelling emergency and there is an emergent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit to allowing you to temporarily enter the United States. Anyone can file an application for humanitarian parole.