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The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is the primary authority for U.S. immigration law, codified at Title 8 United States Code (USC). Immigration practitioners customarily cite directly to the INA rather than to its code counterpart and do not provide parallel citations. The USCIS website has a table showing INA sections with their corresponding U.S. Code sections. The INA can be found on AILALink and the USCIS website. The USC can be found on Westlaw Edge, Lexis +, HeinOnline, and GovInfo. Proquest Congressional is an excellent tool for conducting legislative histories. HeinOnline also has compiled legislative histories for selected immigration acts.

Agencies engage in quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial activities. Part of the quasi-legislative process is agency rulemaking. Proposed regulations are published in the Federal Register (FR). Proposed regulations contain a preamble explaining the basis and purpose for the regulation. So, while there is no legislative history for regulations, you may refer back to older Federal Registers to gain some insight into agency intent in creating a regulation.Final regulations are also initially published in the Federal Register, before they are codified in the Code of Federal Regualtions (CFR). Immigration related Federal Register notices can be found on AILALink, and the EOIR Website. The Federal Register can also be found on Westlaw, Lexis +, HeinOnline and GovInfo. Immigration related sections of the Code of Federal Regulations can be found on Westlaw, AILALink and the USCIS website. The Code of Federal Regulations can also be found on Lexis, HeinOnline, and GovInfo. Agencies also engage in quasi-judicial activities. These administrative decisions may act as precedent and can eventually be appealed to the judicial branch of government. For more information on the , please see the chart on the Judicial Review Process in this guide. Immigration Courts serve as the trial level for most immigration proceedings. Selected decisions of the immigration courts are sometimes shared by practitioners or published in newsletters, like Interpreter Releases (available in print or on Westlaw). The Administrative Appeals Office of the USCIS also issues precedent decisions that are published in the Administrative Decisions under Immigration and Nationality Laws (I. & N. Dec.) reporter available in print, on the EOIR website, AILALink, Lexis+ and Westlaw Edge. The Board of Immigration Appeals hears appeals from the immigration courts and the AAO. BIA decisions are are published in the Administrative Decisions under Immigration and Nationality Laws (I. & N. Dec.) reporter available in print, on the EOIR website, AILALink, Lexis+ and Westlaw Edge.

Immigration administrative decisions can be appealed to the Federal Courts. Federal Circuit Court opinions are published in the Federal Reporter and can be found on Westlaw, Lexis and AILALink. Supreme Court cases can be found on Westlaw and Lexis. Immigration related Supreme Court cases can also be found on AILALink.

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