Suggested Resources

The Nascent Architecture for Managing U.S. Border Arrivals Shows Promise  |  Commentary by Andrew Selee, Ph.D. & Doris Meissner. Migration Policy Institute. October 2024

Opinion: Restoring order at the Border   |  Op-Ed by Alan Bersin. San Diego Union-Tribune. March 6, 2024

About the Speakers

Alan Bersin served between 2012 and 2017 as Assistant Secretary in the Office of Policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Alan was responsible for overseeing the Department’s policy formulation function in the areas of border security and trade, cyber, critical infrastructure and resilience, threat prevention and security policy and strategy, and plans and risk assessments.

As Chief Diplomatic Officer for DHS, Alan led the Department’s international engagement and served as the principal advisor to the Secretary on all international affairs and functions; oversaw the strategic development and execution of the Department’s international policies and plans; facilitated DHS multilateral, regional, and bilateral relations with foreign governments, law enforcement agencies, and international organizations to ensure an integrated transnational affairs program for the Department; served as the lead Departmental representative in interagency policy deliberations affecting foreign relations; and served as the Departmental interlocutor with the Department of State and the foreign affairs community, including foreign governments and international organizations.

Learn more about Alan Bersin here.

Andrew Selee, Ph.D. is President of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a global nonpartisan institution that seeks to improve immigration and integration policies through fact-based research, opportunities for learning and dialogue, and the development of new ideas to address complex policy questions, a position he assumed in 2017. He also chairs MPI Europe's Administrative Council.

Dr. Selee’s research focuses on migration globally, with a special emphasis on immigration policies in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together (PublicAffairs, 2018) and What Should Think Tanks Do? A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact (Stanford University Press, 2013).

He has published opinion articles in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and Americas Quarterly, and he contributes a regular column to Mexico’s largest newspaper, El Universal. He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, teaching courses on global migration, and has previously taught at Johns Hopkins and George Washington universities and been a visiting scholar at El Colegio de México.

Dr. Selee was a Co-Director of the Regional Migration Study Group, convened by MPI with the Wilson Center, and part of the steering committee for MPI’s Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he served on the Board of Directors of the YMCA of the USA, the nation’s largest membership organization.

Prior to joining MPI, he spent 17 years at the Woodrow Wilson Center, where he founded the Center’s Mexico Institute and later served as the Center’s Vice President for Programs and Executive Vice President. He has also worked as staff in the U.S. Congress and on programs with migrant youth in Tijuana, Mexico.

He holds a PhD in policy studies from the University of Maryland; an MA in Latin American studies from the University of California, San Diego; a BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from Washington University in St. Louis; and a certificate in strategic perspectives on nonprofit management from Harvard Business School. He was selected as an Andrew Carnegie Fellow for the 2017-18 period.

Learn more about Dr. Andrew Selee here.

About the Moderator

Major General Mike Lehnert spent 37 years in the Marine Corps and held thirteen separate commands.  In 1995 he deployed to Guantanamo Bay Cuba during Operation Sea Signal where he led the Joint Task Group responsible for securing and caring for over 50,000 Cuban and Haitian migrants. His last tour he commanded the seven Marine Corps bases West of the Mississippi. After retirement he worked with Alan Bersin for 18 months as a senior advisor to the Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection. Lehnert serves as co-chair on the International Affairs Forum Advisory Board.