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E.g., 04/24/2024
T. Alexander Aleinikoff
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T. Alexander Aleinikoff

Nonresident Fellow
University Professor, The New School

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T. Alexander Aleinikoff, the former United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, is a Nonresident Fellow at MPI, where he works with the U.S. and International programs on asylum and migration and development topics. He is also University Professor at The New School, where he serves as Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility.

Mr. Aleinikoff served as the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva from 2010 to mid-2015, and from July-December 2015 was on assignment with the U.N. Secretariat in New York. Prior to his service with the United Nations, Mr. Aleinikoff was a professor at Georgetown University Law Center (1997-2010), where he also served as Dean and as Executive Vice President of Georgetown University (2004-10). He was a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School from 1981 to 1997. And he served as General Counsel, and then Executive Associate Commissioner for Programs, at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from 1994-97. He was Co-Chair of the Immigration Task Force for President Obama's transition team.

A leading scholar in immigration and refugee law, Mr. Aleinikoff has published numerous books and articles in the areas of immigration law policy, refugee law, citizenship, race, statutory interpretation, and constitutional law.

He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Yale Law School.

Bio Page Tabs

Syrians NickOza IRC
Commentaries
January 2017
By  Kathleen Newland and T. Alexander Aleinikoff
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Commentaries
September 2016
By  T. Alexander Aleinikoff

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
May 2015

The majority of the 51 million people displaced in the world today are in protracted situations, forcing them to live in limbo for years. This policy brief by the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees argues for long-term development solutions and a new narrative that emphasizes refugees' potential to contribute to host and origin communities through their own human capital, transnational connections, and dedicated international assistance.

Reports
March 2004

This report examines the transfer of immigration functions from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service to the newly established Department of Homeland Security and offers an analysis of the Department’s progress in its first year of existence toward accomplishing the two purposes for which it was created: (1) to ensure that immigration regulation and control enhances national security; and (2) to improve the performance of both the service and enforcement sides of the immigration system by allocating their respective functions to separate units within DHS. 

Books
May, 2002

In countries that experience large influxes of immigrants, citizenship laws can offer an effective tool for promoting inclusion and integration.This book offers a set of detailed policy proposals on four aspects of citizenship policy: access to citizenship, managing dual nationality, political integration, and social and economic rights.

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