Alexander Aleinikoff - dean of the Georgetown University law school - has accepted a position with the United Nations as the "deputy high commissioner in the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva". Per his statement (link):
"As many of you know, refugee and asylum law has been a central focus of my scholarship and research... The first course I taught at the Law Center was Refugee Law. In taking up the position at UNHCR, I will be joining a UN organization that provides protection or assistance to 34 million people around the world."
He served on Obama's immigration transition team and he was Executive Associate Commissioner of Programs at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during the Clinton years. He's also associated with the Migration Policy Institute.
This means that the Obama administration will have an ally inside the U.N.; whether it means more than that and he'll be promoting Obama's immigration agenda from outside the U.S. isn't known. He might just be concentrating on refugee matters and not illegal immigration. However, related units of the U.N. have shown little interest in our immigration laws, so it's worth keeping any eye out for any attempts from his office to do something similar.
Wed, 12/02/2009 - 15:52 · Importance: 4