LibGuides: Immigration Law Research Guide: Statutes & Legislation

Current Statutes

AILALink This link opens in a new window
Includes immigration-related primary law materials (statutes, regulations, Federal Register notices).

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides the foundation for immigration law. It was passed in 1952 and has been amended several times. The INA is found in Title 8 of the United States Code.

United States Code

Westlaw (USCA)
Lexis (USCS)
Laws and Policy - from the USCIS webpage

Proposed Legislation

Congress.gov This link opens in a new window
Search Current Legislation for bills from the current Congress; search All Legislation for earlier bills and laws.

Lexis Current Congressional Bills
Congressional Full Text of Bills - 113th Congress to Current Congress
Westlaw Current Congressional Bills
Bills introduced in the current legislative session.

Federal Legislative Histories

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive access to U.S. legislative histories, indexes and full text of congressional publications from Congressional Information Service, Inc. Coverage: 1789 - present; full text digital Serial Set 1789-1969
Also includes Executive Branch documents (1789-1932) and Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations (1789-present).
ProQuest Legislative Insight This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1789 - current. Federal legislative history resource comprised of fully searchable PDFs of congressional legislative documents. These include the full text of the Public Law itself, all versions of related bills, law-specific Congressional Record excerpts, committee hearings, reports, and prints.
Also included are Presidential signing statements, CRS reports, and miscellaneous congressional publications that provide background material to aid in the understanding of issues related to the making of the law.

HeinOnline Immigration Law Legislative Histories
Provides compiled legislative histories for numerous immigration statutes.

ProQuest Regulatory Insight This link opens in a new window
As a companion to Legislative Insight, Regulatory Insight offers U.S. federal administrative law histories for the period 1936-2014 organized by federal statute and Executive Order. Regulatory Insight creates regulatory histories for individual federal statutes and Executive Orders by compiling pertinent Federal Register articles into a research-friendly workspace similar to the workspace provided in Legislative Insight.