It was established on November 27, 1881, originally to help the large number of Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States who had left Europe to escape antisemitic persecution and violence.

[15] In 1904, HIAS established a formal bureau on Ellis Island, the primary arrival point of European immigrants to the United States at that time.

They provided translation services, guided immigrants through medical screening and other procedures, argued before the Boards of Special Enquiry to prevent deportations, lent needy Jews the $25 landing fee, and obtained bonds for others guaranteeing their employable status.

HIAS also searched for relatives of detained immigrants in order to secure the necessary affidavits of support to guarantee that the new arrivals would not become public charges.

Through advertising and other methods, the society was able to locate relatives for the vast majority of detainees, who in a short time were released from Ellis Island.

Many of the Jews traveling in steerage on the steamship lines across the Atlantic refused the non-kosher food served on their journeys and arrived at Ellis Island malnourished and vulnerable to deportation on medical grounds.

[21] However, when the North Atlantic became a battle zone and German submarines seriously impaired overseas passenger traffic, immigration numbers plunged.

The establishment of HICEM in 1927 proved critical to the later rescue operation that saved thousands of Jewish lives during World War II.

[25] By the time World War II broke out in September 1939, HICEM had offices throughout Europe, South and Central America, and the Far East.

[26] Until November 11, 1942, when the Germans occupied all of France, HICEM employees were at work in French internment camps, such as the infamous Gurs.

[citation needed] When all legal emigration of Jews from France ceased, HICEM began to operate clandestinely from the town of Brive la Gaillarde.

Here a small group of HICEM employees – establishing contact and cooperation with the local underground forces of the French resistance – succeeded in smuggling Jews out of France to Spain and Switzerland.

Despite friction between the two organizations, they worked together to provide refugees with tickets and information about visas and transportation, and helped them leave Lisbon on neutral Portuguese ships, mainly, as already stated above, the Serpa Pinto and the Mouzinho.

Obtaining documents required for emigration was difficult as throughout the war people had fled from one place to another, escaped from concentration camps to hide in villages and forests, then reappeared under assumed names.

Besides Germany, HIAS worked in France, Italy, and Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

In 1956, HIAS helped relocate Jews fleeing the Soviet invasion of Hungary, and evacuated the Jewish community of Egypt after their expulsion during the Sinai Campaign.

During the 1960s, HIAS oversaw the migration of Jews from Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya and, through Operation Yachin (1961–1964), arranged with Morocco's King Hassan for the transfer of his country's huge Jewish community to France and, eventually, Israel.

By March 1973, the tax was revoked in the face of extreme pressure from the international public community and the Soviets' fear of not being awarded Most Favored Nation status by the U.S.

This legislation was an indicator of the degree to which the Soviet Jewry struggle had won the moral support of the West and had spurred the American Jewish community into action.

Parole made immigration possible without delay for all members of a family unit reunifying with their relatives in the U.S., who were formally considered their "sponsors".

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the years of perestroika and glasnost, the political face of the Soviet Union changed, as well as the course of Jewish history.

In November 1989, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment, which established that a member of a category group "may establish a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion [...] by asserting a credible basis for concern about the possibility of such persecution."

This amendment, which has been renewed a number of times, is still in force today and greatly facilitates processing for refugees from the FSU, Indochina, and Iran.

With a decreasingly hostile environment inside the USSR, the U.S. instituted a system that allowed Soviet Jews to apply and remain in country while waiting for notification of status.

Among the recipients of HIAS aid was Sergey Brin, who at the age of six immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union with his family, and later became the co-founder of Google.

[37] HIAS makes reference to Jewish tradition, values, and texts that call on Jews to help the stranger and to "repair the world" (tikkun olam, in Hebrew).

Depending on location, HIAS services can include trauma counseling, art therapy, legal representation, and humanitarian assistance, among others.

Additionally, HIAS promotes educational initiatives that encourage Jewish communities to engage in refugee aid and services.

In 2016 HIAS opened an office on the Greek island of Lesvos to provide legal services for refugees arriving by sea, predominantly from Syria.

In Latin America, HIAS provides full-service counseling, legal services, and humanitarian assistance for Colombian refugees fleeing to Ecuador, Venezuela, and the United States.