The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Making of a Border-Crossing Culture on the US–Canada Border, 1891–1941

Abstract

This essay focuses on the enforcement of US immigration laws at Canadian border ports of entry from 1891 to 1941 – more particularly, between Port Huron and Detroit on the west and Buffalo and Niagara Falls on the east. It first analyzes the reasons for the creation of ports of entry as a way to control the influx of aliens across the northern border. The study then focuses on the shaping of ports of entry as both physical and bureaucratic spaces dedicated to the control of all border crossers, including American and Canadian citizens, but also to the smooth flow of traffic. Finally, through an analysis of border crossers' letters of complaints to immigration authorities, the essay explores crossers' expectations of the border and reactions to increased controls. Ports of entry, as a manifestation of the power of the sovereign state, affected the behavior of border crossers. On the other hand, immigration officials understood that good customer service was a necessary condition for the public's compliance with their power at the border.