Title 8 of the United States Code
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Title 8 of the Code of Laws of the United States is the body of federal law dealing with immigration and nationality. Title 8 comprises relevant statutes adopted by the United States Congress. Major federal acts that have been incorporated (either in part or in whole) into Title 8 are noted below.
Major acts comprising Title 8
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
- See also: Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
The Immigration and Nationality Act is a comprehensive federal immigration law adopted in 1952. Also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 modified the national origins quota system, which had been established under the Immigration Act of 1924. The national origins quota system set limits on the numbers of individuals from any given nation who could immigrate to the United States. The law also codified and compiled existing laws from a variety of sources into a single text. Although the national origins quota system was eliminated by legislation adopted in 1965, the remainder of the law comprises the foundation of Title 8 of the United States Code, the canon of federal law relating to immigration policy.[1]
Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965
The Immigration and Naturalization Act is a federal immigration law. Also known as the Hart-Celler Act, the law eliminated the national origins quota system, which had set limits on the numbers of individuals from any given nation who could immigrate to the United States. The act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson (D) on October 3, 1965, and took effect on June 30, 1968.[2]
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed by Congress in 1986 and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan (R) on November 6, 1986. The law made it illegal for employers to knowingly hire individuals unauthorized to work in the United States and established a system for verifying the legal status of employees. The Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. Border Patrol were provided increased funding for the purpose of enforcing immigration law. IRCA also created new, separate visa categories for temporary agricultural work (H-2A) and temporary nonagricultural work (H-2B).
IRCA granted legal status to individuals residing in the United States without legal permission who met certain conditions; this provision of the law applied only to individuals who had entered the country before January 1, 1982. Ultimately, 2.7 million individuals were granted legal status under the law.[3]
Immigration Act of 1990
- See also: Immigration Act of 1990
The Immigration Act of 1990 was passed by Congress in 1990 and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush (R) on November 29, 1990. Its stated purpose was to "change the level, and preference system for admission, of immigrants to the United States, and to provide for administrative naturalization." The law increased annual limits on immigration to the United States, revised visa category limits to increase skilled labor immigration, and expanded and revised the grounds for removal and inadmissability. The law also created the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program as well as four new categories of nonimmigrant (temporary worker) visas.
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act was passed by Congress in 1996 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton (D) on September 30, 1996. The law authorized greater resources for border enforcement, such as the construction of new fencing near the San Diego, California, area, and enacted civil penalties for attempting to cross the border illegally. It amended regulations regarding the removal of individuals residing in the country without legal permission by prohibiting legal reentry for a certain period of time and introducing a process for expedited removal. The law also applied new restrictions to the asylum application process.
Full text of Title 8
Embedded below is the full text of Title 8 of the United States Code, current as of 2015. The full text of Title 8 is also available here.[4]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Government Publishing Office, "Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952," accessed March 14, 2017
- ↑ Government Publishing Office, "Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965," accessed March 16, 2017
- ↑ The Washington Post, "What happened to the millions of immigrants granted legal status under Ronald Reagan?" November 26, 2014
- ↑ Government Publishing Office, "United States Code: Title 8–Aliens and Nationality," accessed March 29, 2017
