Homeland Security

USCIS

The US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is a component of the US Department of Homeland Security. It is a government agency that normally oversees the lawful immigration to the US. The agency tends to perform a lot of administrative functions that were being done by the former US Immigration and Naturalization service that was part of the department of justice. The priorities of USCIS include promoting the national security, improving customer service, and eliminating the immigration case backlogs. The USCIS takes the responsibility of processing the immigration and the naturalization applications and also establishing the policies on immigration services.

Some other functions of the agency include processing asylum application, naturalization petitions, visa petitions, and refuge application. Other responsibilities include issuing of employment authorization documents, administration of the immigration benefits and services, granting US citizenship, and offering lawful permanent resident status. The agency also performs its services to ensure effective and efficient process applications.

The mission of USCIS is to secure the America’s promise as a nation of immigrants through offering useful and accurate information to customers and grant immigration and citizenship benefits, ensure the integrity of the immigration system, and promote awareness and understanding of citizenship. The goals of the agency include promoting sound and flexible immigration programs and policies, strengthening integrity and security of immigration system, and supporting the immigration integration and participation in the civic culture of America. 

The US department of homeland security was established so as to build a homeland security enterprise to better defend and mitigate against dynamic threats, maximize the ability to recover and respond from disaster and attacks, and also to minimize risks of all kinds. The DHS is at the federal level protecting the Americans against terrorism threats. The department has been working hand in hand with the local law enforcement, national counterterrorism center, and the intelligence community so as to ensure that all the levels of first responders and the agents do have the necessary training and information of responding and preventing a terrorist attack in the US. When considering the origin story of the department, the foundation of DHS is how to respond to terrorism. However, there are other duties that include securing the country from many threats that may be facing the country. The DHS and its many agencies and departments across the federal government, communities, and private and public sectors across the world have helped in protecting the country against terrorist attacks.

Through the different agencies under the DHS, the department can deal with any threat facing the nation. The department has enhanced the ability of the state, local, and federal levels of law enforcement agencies to protect the country against attacks. The agencies can fight the terrorist enemies and also promote human dignity and freedom as alternatives to the perverse terrorist vision of totalitarian rule and oppression. The strategy of combating terrorism involves the application of elements of the national influence and power. The expanded efforts of DHS do not just employ the military power, but it also uses intelligence, law enforcement activities, financial, and diplomatic activities in protecting the homeland and extending defenses to disrupt the terrorist operation and ensure that the enemies are deprived what they need to survive and operate. The creation of the DHS greatly helps in strengthening the ability to disrupt and helping prevent future attacks.

Reference

Department of Homeland Security (2017). US Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

Christen, H & Maniscalco, P (2010). Homeland security. Jones & Bartlett Publishers