Press
Release
December 1, 2008
Contact: Michelle Mittelstadt
202-266-1910
mmittelstadt@migrationpolicy.org
WASHINGTON – Today
President-elect Barack Obama announced his selection of Arizona
Gov. Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security. Following
are statements from the Migration Policy Institute’s President
and the two Senior Fellows who served as Commissioner of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service:
MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou:
“Janet Napolitano’s experience as a border-state
governor deeply involved in immigration matters will be exceptionally
relevant in her new role as Homeland Security secretary. This
is one of the most challenging positions in the federal government
because of the department’s many and complex missions
and the Homeland Security secretary’s need to negotiate
a large number of politically sensitive issues. Governor Napolitano
appears to have honed many of the management and negotiating
skills essential to performing the job effectively.”
MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner, who heads
MPI’s
U.S. Immigration Policy Program and served as INS Commissioner
during the Clinton administration:
“Governor Napolitano will be the first Homeland Security
secretary who comes to the job with a strong, nuanced knowledge
of immigration policy. She also brings an understanding that
immigration is the federal government’s responsibility.
She has the credentials and experience to provide sound leadership
and fill the policy vacuum left by Washington’s inaction
on immigration in recent years.”
MPI Senior Fellow
James W. Ziglar, who served as INS Commissioner during the
Bush administration until the agency’s functions
were absorbed into the new Department of Homeland Security:
“The Department of Homeland Security is a multi-faceted
organization that requires someone with a broad base of management
and policy experience to deal with its diverse challenges – and
Governor Napolitano has that experience. Her track record as
a bipartisan, pragmatic leader will hold her in good stead on
Capitol Hill, with Democratic and Republican governors, and at
the Department of Homeland Security.”
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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, non-partisan,
non-profit think tank in Washington, DC dedicated to analysis
of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development
and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local,
national and international levels. |
