For Immediate Release
Contact: Dan Gordon, 617-651-0841
April 8, 2021

‘Immigration Reform Done Right Can Reinforce Our National Security’

Washington, D.C. — In an op-ed this week for Morning Consult, retired Adm. James M. Loy makes the case that the humanitarian crisis at the border should not stop Congress from passing immigration reforms.

"Policymakers should be mindful of conflating a humanitarian challenge at the border with a national security crisis. For too long, meaningful immigration reforms have failed, in part because of the false premise that immigration threatens U.S. national security," writes Loy, a founding member of the Council on National Security and Immigration. "In reality, immigration reform done right can reinforce our national security and economic interests and allow us to regain our footing as a global humanitarian leader."

Loy served as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security in the George W. Bush administration and, earlier, as commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The op-ed comes the same week as U.S. Customs and Border Protection released its March data on border apprehensions.

​​​"We are too often presented with a false choice between security and compassion," Loy concludes. "Congress can — and should — pass immigration policies that address the humanitarian crisis at the border in the short term and increase security in the longer term by emphasizing legal, orderly immigration pathways."

The full op-ed is available via Morning Consult.

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