Doris Meissner
| Doris Marie Meissner | |
|---|---|
| 14th Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service | |
|
In office October 18, 1993 – November 18, 2000 |
|
| Preceded by | Gene McNary |
| Succeeded by | James W. Ziglar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 3, 1941 Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
Doris Marie Meissner is a former Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the agency previously responsible for immigration enforcement in the United States. She headed the INS from October 18, 1993 (nominated June 1993) to November 18, 2000, under United States President Bill Clinton and United States Attorney General Janet Reno. She is currently Senior Fellow and Director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute and has previously worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Meissner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on November 3, 1941 to Hertha and Fred Borst, immigrants to the United States from Germany, who had arrived in the country via the Ellis Island inspection station in the 1920s. Meissner has cited her personal experience as a second-generation immigrant in a family speaking a foreign language as critical to helping her better empathize with the migrant perspective as she took on key roles in managing the United States immigration enforcement apparatus. Recalling an incident where her father, who had arrived in 1927, lost his naturalization papers in a fire, and was anxious if he could get a copy, she said: "When your parents are immigrants, you grow up understanding immigration in a way that you never could from a textbook: how precious and difficult it is."
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963 and a Master of Arts degrees in 1969 (the latter in political science) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
While still a student, she managed the political campaign of Democratic politician Midge Miller, an opponent of the Vietnam War. The campaign was successful, with Miller defeating her opponent, a 20-year incumbent, in the Wisconsin statue legislature, and assuming office in 1971.
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