McCarran-Walter Act codifies immigration law designating special inquiry officers as adjudicators

Congress passes the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA, P.L. 82-414), which President Truman vetoes before Congress overrides the veto. The INA organizes all U.S. immigration laws into a single statute and creates "special inquiry officers", predecessors of immigration judges, to decide questions of deportation. These officers operate within the INS, combining enforcement and adjudication in a structure that critics call structurally compromised for due process.