Research Guides : Immigration Law: Primary Sources

Legislative Histories & Legislative Databases

Searchable database with information on Florida Supreme Court Opinion, Oral Arguments, and Case Information

Searchable database with information on Florida's Constitution, Statutes, and Laws.

Provided by Fdsys, a parallel table of authorities and rules codified in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Parallel Authority Table
Divided into four sections, great resource to search using CTRL + F.

The Immigration and Nationality Act, enacted in 1952, is the framework for immigration law, and is codified in Title 8 of the U.S. Code.

FDSYS
The online government portal to the U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register, and Statutes at Large.
U.S. Code
Available online through Fdsys. Annotated versions are available in Lexis as the U.S. Code Service and in Westlaw as the U.S. Code Annotated.
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Title 8 of the U.S. Code is where the INA is located, and has not be enacted into positive law. When a title of the Code was enacted into positive law, the text of the title became legal evidence of the law. Titles that have not been enacted into positive law are only prima facie evidence of the law. In that case, the Statutes at Large still govern.
Amendments to the INA
Provided by USCIS, a list of amendments to the INA by the public law number. Coverage from 1986.
Other CFR Regulations
Available on USCIS, a partial list of other immigration titles from the Code of Federal Regulation.
GPO - CFR
The U.S. Government Printing Office allows users to view the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) by year.

Department of Homeland Security
The Department is responsible for providing immigration-related services and benefits such as naturalization and work authorization as well as investigative and enforcement responsibilities for enforcement of federal immigration laws, customs laws and air security laws.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Under DHS, this government website is an excellent website for immigration information.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Also under DHS, ICE was created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. It is the enforcement mechanism.
Department of Justice: Executive Office for Immigration
Oversight for immigration court proceedings, appellate reviews, and administrative hearings. Contains EOIR, BIA, OCAHO, and OCIJ.
Department of Labor
Important information regarding work visas.
U.S. Department of State
Home to the visa information center, foreign affairs manual and the bureau of population. Click the "travel link" to access visa information.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Customs is primarily responsible for preventing terrorists or weapons from entering the United States; however, it's site has useful forms and information for anyone traveling to the United States.

EOIR Virtual Law Library: (Virtual library including BIA, OCAHO, Federal Register, and U.S. Code information)
Board of Immigration Appeals Rulings: (Available from 1955 to Present)
Administrative Decisions under Immigration and Nationality Laws: (Available documents from 1940-2009)
Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) from the Department of Labor: (Immigration Collection:Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals and Office of Administrative Law Judges)

Primarily federal law, immigration case law can be found in a variety of sources.

Legal Information Institute on Immigration
Provided by Cornell, this legal information portal has links to immigration decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.
Lexis
Immigration case law database
PACER
Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is service that allows access to 500 million case documents, including case and docket information for federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts, immediately after they are electronically filed.
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This is a fee based website and there is no student subscription, but is very affordable at $0.08 per page with a max. document charge of $2.40. If your usage does not exceed $10.00 in a quarter, you will not be charged at all. The cost of Pacer can be further reduced by using Mozilla Firefox and an browser add-on called RECAP. This application allows you to have free access to documents on Pacer that have been already accessed by other Mozilla users.
Westlaw
Immigration case law database.