Doris Meissner
Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program
Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), is a Senior Fellow at MPI, where she directs the Institute’s U.S. immigration policy work.
Her responsibilities focus in particular on the role of immigration in America’s future and on administering the nation’s immigration laws, systems, and government agencies. Her work and expertise also include immigration and politics, immigration enforcement, border control, cooperation with other countries, and immigration and national security. She has authored and coauthored numerous reports, articles, and op-eds and is frequently quoted in the media. She served as Director of MPI's Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future, a bipartisan group of distinguished leaders. The group's report and recommendations address how to harness the advantages of immigration for a 21st century economy and society.
Media Requests |
From 1993-2000, she served in the Clinton administration as Commissioner of the INS, then a bureau in the U.S. Department of Justice. Her accomplishments included reforming the nation's asylum system; creating new strategies for managing U.S. borders; improving naturalization and other services for immigrants; shaping new responses to migration and humanitarian emergencies; strengthening cooperation and joint initiatives with Mexico, Canada, and other countries; and managing growth that doubled the agency’s personnel and tripled its budget.
She first joined the Justice Department in 1973 as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Attorney General. She served in various senior policy posts until 1981, when she became Acting Commissioner of the INS and then Executive Associate Commissioner, the third-ranking post in the agency. In 1986, she joined the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as a Senior Associate. Ms. Meissner created the Endowment's Immigration Policy Project, which evolved into the Migration Policy Institute in 2001.
Ms. Meissner is Vice Chair of the board of trustees of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Inter-American Dialogue, the Pacific Council on International Diplomacy, the National Academy of Public Administration, the Administrative Conference of the United States, and the Constitution Society.
Bio Page Tabs
Recent Activity
During this Leadership Visions address, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary John Morton offered his perspectives on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, its mission, and its future.
Immigration to the United States continued steadily from the 1970s until the recent recession, which also diminished a sense of urgency to enact immigration reform legislation. MPI's Kristen McCabe and Doris Meissner provide a comprehensive look at major legislation and events affecting U.S. immigration, the size and attributes of the immigrant population, and policy changes under the Obama administration.
In order to rectify the shortcomings of a rigid and outdated U.S. visa system set in place by the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), this report recommends creating a new visa stream called provisional visas which would sync visa policies with the way in which labor markets work in practice, and bridge temporary and permanent employment-based admissions to the United States in a predictable and transparent way.
This report provides an in-depth examination of the limitations of the existing E-Verify system. Alongside recommendations for strengthening E-Verify and mitigating its unintended consequences, the report offers proposals for three next-generation verification pilot concepts that would tap new technologies and practices to overcome the core weaknesses of the system.
This conference offers law and policy analysis and discussion on cutting-edge immigration issues.
This policy paper proposes creation of a permanent, independent executive-branch agency that would make regular recommendations to the president and Congress for adjusting employment-based immigration levels.The Standing Commission concept, first articulated by the MPI-convened Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future in its 2006 final report, would provide nonpartisan, timely, evidence-based, and impartial analysis that is vital for informed policymaking.
The U.S.-Mexico Border Problem Will Not Be “Solved” Until All Parts of the Border Enforcement System Are Properly Resourced
A Post-Title 42 Vision for Migration Management Comes into Focus
Revamping Asylum at the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Workable Rescue?
Straight Path to Legal Permanent Residence for Afghan Evacuees Would Build on Strong U.S. Precedent
Biden Administration Asylum Processing Revamp at the U.S. Border Could Be a Game Changer
Biden Administration Is Making Quick Progress on Asylum, but a Long, Complicated Road Lies Ahead
USCIS Budget Implosion Owes to Far More than the Pandemic
USCIS Fee Increase Proposed Rule Could Represent the Latest Step in Reshaping Immigration to United States
Policy Solutions to Address Crisis at Border Exist, But Require Will and Staying Power to Execute
A Wall Cannot Fix Problems at Border; Smart Solutions for Asylum Crisis Can
Asylum Reform, Not Troops, Is the Solution to Current Border Reality
Crisis at the Border? Not by the Numbers
Juan Osuna: A Tribute to an Indispensable Person
Taking Action to Reflect Current Reality: Obama Administration Ends “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” Policies on Cuban Migration
The Current Record on Deportations: What Underlies the 'Eye of the Beholder' Dynamic?