Major Policies- Middle School

The overarching acts of Congress, historical frameworks, and executive guidelines that dictate how immigration functions on a large scale.

• INA (Immigration and Nationality Act): The primary body of law governing U.S. immigration. Passed by Congress in 1952, it compiles all the nation's immigration statutes and rules into one massive legal framework.

• APA (Administrative Procedure Act): A federal law that governs the way government agencies propose and establish new regulations. It ensures that agencies follow fair, consistent, and public steps whenever they change how immigration rules are enforced.

• Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR): A term for proposed legislative plans to completely overhaul the entire U.S. immigration system simultaneously—addressing border security, legal work visas, and the status of undocumented residents all in one bill.

• Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA): A historical law that previously restricted federal marriage benefits to opposite-sex couples. Since it was ruled unconstitutional, the federal government treats same-sex and opposite-sex marriages completely identically for all immigration petitions.