OPINION PIECES
March 20, 2023
Critical Homeland Security positions need five-year terms
Stewart Verdery and Kate Christensen Mills
The Hill
The politics around immigration are historically difficult and perhaps never more than this moment where global migration fueled by economic disparities, public health emergencies, weather disasters and political instability has overwhelmed governments around the world, including our own. But one of the major reasons for our own internal chaos is the fact that we cannot even pick leaders to run our own immigration agencies.
November 10, 2022
What could have been: An America with immigration reform
Stewart Verdery
The Hill
Imagine this: It’s July of 2007, and after exhausting negotiations, the biggest piece of immigration legislation in decades — the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 — has passed the Senate and House with bipartisan votes of 63-37 and 252-180, respectively and is on its way to President George W. Bush’s desk for signature. Of course, that legislative achievement never happened.
August 15, 2022
Time to treat Afghan allies with same respect as those fleeing Ukraine
Margaret Stock
The Hill
In the months following Russia’s winter invasion of Ukraine, President Biden announced the U.S. would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians and established “Uniting for Ukraine,” a program that streamlines and expands the humanitarian parole process for Ukrainians to gain admittance to America.
August 5, 2022
Follow the gun-violence bill road map to immigration reform
Stewart Verdery and Gil Kerlikowski
Seattle Times
You could have a spirited argument over which public policy debate in the United States has been plagued the most by gridlock and partisanship, but guns and immigration would surely be two top examples.
May 25, 2022
What the U.S. military needs is an infusion of immigrants
Margaret Stock
The Washington Post
Today’s U.S. military is facing a personnel deficit that is affecting our nation’s readiness and threatening our national security. But if our leaders are willing to act, there’s an obvious solution to this problem: immigrants.
February 7, 2022
Time to press pause on decades of immigration trench warfare
Stewart Verdery
The Hill
As we head quickly toward the 2022 midterm elections, our national stalemate on immigration policy remains one of the most destructive versions of ‘Groundhog Day’ that our country’s political class has ever created.
January 9, 2022
Stop relying on China. Move the supply chain to Central America.
Elaine Dezenski
Dallas Morning News
In July, 200,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern U.S. border, a 21-year high, according to an analysis by Pew Research. It’s no surprise that this unprecedented, post-COVID-19 surge in migration has stretched our immigration, asylum and border systems to the breaking point.
August 3, 2021
Congress, stop holding 'Dreamers' hostage
Stewart Verdery
The Hill
Amid the contentiousness of our national debate on immigration policy, consensus has emerged on one issue: "Dreamers." Children brought to the U.S. by their parents, through no fault of their own, deserve a right to stay in our country as Americans.
May 4, 2021
It's time to show that vulnerable refugees are once again an American priority
Elizabeth Neumann
The Hill
The dismantling of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) by the Trump administration under the false pretense that refugee resettlement is incompatible with national security has been heartbreaking.
April 7, 2021
Don’t Let the Humanitarian Crisis at the Border Excuse Congressional Inaction on Immigration
James Loy
Morning Consult
As members of Congress watch thousands of asylum seekers, many of them children, risk their lives to enter the United States each day, it would be tempting to argue that essential immigration reforms must wait until the crisis at the border is resolved.
January 15, 2021
Rescinding the Travel Ban Will Improve National Security
Elizabeth Neumann
National Immigration Forum
President-elect Joe Biden has indicated he will rescind the travel and refugee bans
President Trump enacted through Executive Order (EO) 13780 and Proclamation 9645.1
I join many in the national security community in applauding this intended action. These
bans damaged our nation’s reputation and were an unnecessary distraction from needed
security enhancements. However, as a national security official who participated in
screening and vetting enhancements and the implementation of the travel bans, I urge the
Biden administration to leverage some of the security enhancements that accompanied EO
13780 and Proclamation 9645 to make our country even safer.
February 5, 2020
Border Security -- What Works and What Creates Headlines?
Douglas Baker
I have spent the better part of the last 15 years working on border security efforts, both in the United States and abroad. First as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Border and Transportation Security, and more recently as an investor and board member of Persistent Sentinel, a US-based company that has managed a significant piece of the Jordan-Syria land border security program for more than ten years. The one constant truth that I have learned is that security threats evolve. Therefore, you should design a security solution to address future threats, not one to fight the last war.
December 7, 2012
Now is the time for a bipartisan immigration reform plan
Douglas Baker
CHRON.
With the 2012 elections behind us, now is the time for leaders from both the legislative and executive branches to come together in a bipartisan manner and address our nation's urgent needs. One is comprehensive immigration reform.
June 22, 2010
Immigration reform rears its head again
Douglas Baker and Michael Neifach
Daily Caller
The recently enacted immigration law in Arizona has inflamed both sides in the apparently endless immigration reform debate. We know firsthand how tough it is to fashion a workable solution that appeases the hardcore activists on either side. Even so, the Arizona law, the latest of a number of recently proposed or adopted state laws related to immigration enforcement, highlights the need for reform at the federal level.
May 10, 2009
We need open debate on border security
Douglas Baker and Michael Neifach
CHRON.
Recent events have refocused attention on American border security. Drug violence spreading north across the Rio Grande River, a potential pandemic flu that originated in Mexico and possible consideration of a comprehensive immigration bill later this year all point to a growing need to openly and honestly discuss this national imperative.