USCIS, ICE & CBP

USCIS is the office that processes immigration applications. If you are applying for a green card, a work permit, a visa extension, or citizenship, USCIS is the agency that reviews your paperwork and decides whether to approve it.

• ✓Process green card applications (I-485, I-130, I-140, etc.)
• ✓Issue Employment Authorization Documents (work permits)
• ✓Conduct citizenship (naturalization) interviews and tests

ICE is the law enforcement agency that enforces immigration laws inside the United States (not at the border). ICE is responsible for finding, arresting, and deporting people who are in the U.S. without legal status or who have violated immigration law.

• ✓Arrest people they believe are in the U.S. illegally
• ✓Detain immigrants in immigration detention centers
• ✓Deport (remove) immigrants from the U.S.

CBP is responsible for controlling the U.S. border. CBP officers work at ports of entry (airports, land border crossings, sea ports) and Border Patrol agents work between ports of entry along the land borders.

• ✓Inspect travelers entering the U.S. at ports of entry
• ✓Patrol land borders between ports of entry
• ✓Operate interior checkpoints within 100 miles of the border