CIS

(1) Citizenship and Immigration Services; the successor to the investigations and processing arm of the former Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) of the USA. In 2003, the INS was dissolved and its enforcement arm transferred to the new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The INS had formerly been part of the Justice Department; the CIS is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). (2) Center for Immigration Studies, a thinktank founded by John Tanton as a project of FAIR. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) lists the CIS as a racist nativist organization with extensive connections with other rightwing organizations.