Immigration Law Research Guide

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides the foundation for immigration law. It was passed in 1952 and has been amended several times since (The USCIS wepage provides a list of amendments to the INA by public law number since the 99th Congress). The INA is found in Title 8 of the United States Code.

The following is a guide to finding the Immigration and Naturalization Act and other applicable statutes.

United States Code

• Official and annotated codes in print available in the Law Library (ask for assistance).
• Lexis (Content Type> Statutes and Legislation > Federal >USCS - United States Code Service - Titles 1 through 54)
• Westlaw (Content Type >Statutes and Court Rules > USCA)
• United States Code: from the US House Office of the Law Revision Council or Cornell Legal Information Institute .
• Laws, Regulations and Guides - The USCIS webpage collects law, regulations and interpretations relating to immigration and the work of the immigration-related bureau of the Department of Homeland Security.

For many federal immigration laws, there are compiled legislative histories available in the Library. These compilations usually include bills, Congressional Record debates, reports and hearings. To find a compiled legislative history, try a keyword search in URSUS, such as immigration and nationality act and legislative history.  A good starting places for legislative history research include: 

• USCCAN: Westlaw and in Compact Storage - Law Library in print.
• ProQuest Congressional (1st Congress – Present) provides compiled histories with full-text PDFs.
• Congress.gov (93rd Congress – Present) provides legislative steps and latest actions.
• Hein Online: provides compiled legislative histories for the following immigration statutes:
  • Immigration Act of 1990: Pub. L. No. 101-649
  • Immigration and Nationality Acts-Legislative History and Related Acts 1977-1986 (First Series)
  • Immigration and Nationality Acts - Legislative History and Related Acts 1950 - 1978
• CIS Legislative History Indexes located in the Compact Storage Reference area.

This guide makes no attempt to detail proposed immigration bills. The following resources will allow you to monitor proposed legislation:

• Congress.gov from the Library of Congress (search Current Legislation for bills from the 114th Congress; search All Legislation for earlier bills and laws).
•  ProQuest Congressional by keywords including immigration to find current and past legislation and legislative histories.
• Lexis (Content Type > Statutes and Legislation >Bill Text > Congressional Full Text Bills - Current Congress).
• Westlaw (Content Type > Statutes and Court Rules > Bill Tracking).