Commissioners and Directors

The Immigration Act of 1891 stated that a Superintendent of Immigration would oversee federal immigration law under the Department of the Treasury. An 1895 law changed the title of Superintendent to Commissioner General of immigration. This title remained the same in 1903 when Congress approved the transfer of immigration work to the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor and upgraded the Office of Immigration to the Bureau of Immigration.

In 1906, after citizenship policy became a federal responsibility, the Commissioner of Immigration headed a combined Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. This continued until 1913, when the Bureau transferred to the new Department of Labor and divided into two separate bureaus: The Bureau of Immigration, under direction of the Commissioner General of Immigration; and the Bureau of Naturalization, under direction of the Commissioner of Naturalization.  In 1933 an Executive Order again combined the two Bureaus forming the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), led by a Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization.

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 dissolved the INS and placed its functions into three separate agencies under the new Department of Homeland Security. On March 1, 2003, the office of Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization ceased to exist. Since that date USCIS has been led by a Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

For a more detailed history of INS see our Agency History page.

• Superintendents of Immigration, 1891-1895
• Commissioners General of Immigration, 1895-1933
• Commissioners of Naturalization, 1913-1933
• Commissioners of Immigration and Naturalization Services
• Directors of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Superintendents of Immigration, 1891-1895

	William Owen	1891-1893
	Herman Stump	1893-1895

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Commissioners General of Immigration, 1895-1933

	Herman Stump	1895-1897
	Terence V. Powderly	1897-1902
	Frank P. Sargent	1902-1908
	David J.Keefe	1909-1913
	Anthony J. Caminetti	1913-1921
	William W. Husband	1921-1925
	Harry E. Hull	1925-1933

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Commissioners of Naturalization, 1913-1933

	Richard K. Campbell	1913-1922
	Raymond E. Crist	1923-1933

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Commissioners General of Immigration and Naturalization, 1933-2003

	Daniel MacCormack	1933-1937
	James Houghteling	1937-1940
	Lemuel Schofield	1940-1942
	Earl G. Harrison	1942-1944
	Ugo Carusi	1945-1947
	Watson B. Miller	1947-1950
	Argyle Mackey	1951-1954
	Joseph M. Swing	1954-1962
	Raymond Farrel	1962-1973
	Leonard Chapman	1973-1977
	Leonel J. Castillo	1977-1979
	Alan C. Nelson	1982-1989
	Gene McNary	1989-1993
	Doris Meissner	1993-2000
	James W. Ziglar	2001-2002

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Directors of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2003-Present

	Eduardo Aguirre	2003-2005
	Emilio T. Gonzalez	2005-2009
	Alejandro Mayorkas	2009-Present

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