Stories from the Archives
Read the stories of people and programs that make up federal immigration history, learn about the most interesting items in our library collection, or get tips on researching in agency records.
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Most immigrants and their families today are familiar with the A-File system. A-Files are used to document noncitizens’ interactions with USCIS, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They include all an individual’s official immigration and naturalization records and are identified by a unique A-Number. A-Files are central to our agency’s daily operations and play a key role in adjudicating immigration benefits and supporting enforcement actions. Today, USCIS maintains millions of A-Files, both in paper and digital format.
In January 2023, USCIS released a redesigned Permanent Resident Card or “Green Card.” This design contains state-of-the-art technology, including holographic images and optically variable ink. Visually, this Green Card retains much of the previous version’s design (PDF, 1.69 MB), which also featured a red, white, and blue flag on a green background.
This timeline traces the major events and policies that affected refugee admissions under the INS and its predecessor agencies, from 1891 to 2003.
The Name Index to Bureau of Naturalization Correspondence includes images of over 140,000 index cards on 19 rolls of microfilm. The cards index correspondence related to questions of nationality or citizenship sent to or received by the Naturalization Service during the years 1906-1944.
In November 1956, a failed revolt against Communism in Hungary spurred the greatest refugee crisis in Europe since the end of World War II. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his administration, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), moved swiftly in response. Through the hard work of INS employees as well as the State Department, the military, and civilian volunteers, over 30,000 refugees resettled in the United States over an eight-month period. The success of “Operation Safe Haven”, set a precedent for the U.S.
After the United States entered the First World War, Congress passed the Naturalization Act of May 9, 1918, to expedite naturalization for noncitizen members of the U.S. armed forces. Congress wanted to reward foreign-born service members and encourage immigrant enlistments.
In October 1908, 50-year-old Canadian-born immigrant Frank Woodhull joined the line of steerage passengers awaiting inspection at the Ellis Island Immigration Station. Woodhull, who had resided in the U.S. for several years but never became a citizen, had just returned from an extended tour through Europe. As the line of immigrants filed past Ellis Island doctors, Woodhull was pulled aside for further screening. The doctors noted his “slight” build and “sunken cheeks” and suspected he might be afflicted with tuberculosis, a contagious disease that would render him inadmissible.
Tye Leung Schulze was born in 1887, the eighth child in a working-class immigrant family in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She led a life of helping others and breaking barriers, despite facing considerable danger, discrimination, and poverty as a Chinese American woman in late 19th century America.
When Congress created the U.S. Immigration Bureau in 1891, few women had the right to vote, and many people believed a woman’s place was in the home. In 1893, only 16 women worked for the immigration service, most as cleaners and laundrywomen. Fast forward more than 130 years and approximately 55% of the agency’s workforce are women. In 2021, Ur Mendoza Jaddou was confirmed by the senate to become USCIS’ first permanent female director.
Among the agency’s earliest female employees, Immigration Service matrons performed a variety of tasks at our nation’s immigration stations.