do immigration laws keep criminals and ex-convicts out?
Overview of the Law. The immigration statute lists a number of types of activities that can make one deportable. The primary ones relate to immigration violations, national security and terrorism activities, and criminal violations.
The Department of Justice administers the adjudication of the immigration laws, through a special group of immigration judges. For most of its history, the US has maintained immigration laws to control which non-citizens are allowed to be in the US, for what reasons, for how long, and who can become US citizens.