The creation of the Department of Homeland Security dismantled what was then the Immigration and Naturalization Service and divided its functions into three core agencies:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Budget: $5.8 billion.

Employees: 20,000 , including investigators and staff nationwide and in 47 foreign countries.

Purpose: Enforcing immigration laws, investigating violators, carrying out deportations, and operating the massive immigration system.

Customs and Border Protection

Budget: $11.7 billion.

Employees: 60,399, including 21,000 agents patrolling the country’s borders and 21,000 officers conducting inspections and patrolling points of entry.

Purpose: Securing the country’s border and regulating immigration, and facilitating international travel and trade by inspecting goods arriving in the country.

Citizenship and Immigration Services

Budget: $2.97 billion, along with $102.4 million for E-Verify, an online system for companies to check their employees’ ability to work in the United States.

Employees: 11,315, not including contractors.

Purpose: Oversees legal immigration and works with people seeking lawful US residency and benefits. The agency also runs E-Verify.

►Also involved in the immigration system:

Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice

Budget: $329.8 million

Employees: 1,707

Purpose: Administers the 58 immigration courts in the country.

GLOBE STAFF