Exploiting the Myths, Traps, and Absurdities of Immigration Law to Benefit U.S. National Security

Lieutenant Colonel Margaret Stock is an attorney and 2013 recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship (“genius award”) who speaks widely on issues of immigration law and national security. With experiences serving in the U.S. Army Reserve and teaching at West Point, Stock challenges complex federal immigration laws in order to provide more humane and rational policies that will also serve American national security interests.

Stock brings her singular knowledge of immigration law and national security law to bear on reform efforts through direct representation and policy-based advocacy. With a broad view of national security that goes beyond protecting the country from terrorist threats to include the protection of economic and political interests that ensure our prosperity, Stock articulates the crucial role of a healthy and efficient immigration system in responding to changes in the global economy and maintaining the foundational values of our democracy.

Margaret Stock has spearheaded the development of three groundbreaking programs that creatively adapt existing laws to better the lives of both immigrants and native-born military personnel. Beginning in 2008, she initiated and, in cooperation with the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, implemented the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program, which allows the U.S. armed forces to attract and retain foreign nationals with language, medical, and other skills critical to military readiness and national security by expediting their path to citizenship.

Stock received an A.B. (1985), J.D. (1992), and M.P.A. (2001) from Harvard University and an M.S.S. (2006) from the U.S. Army War College. After 28 years of service, in 2010 she retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Military Police, U.S. Army Reserve. During her years of service, she also taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point (2001–2010) and later served as counsel to the firm Lane Powell (2010–2013). She is the author of Immigration Law and the Military (2012) and an attorney with the Anchorage office of Cascadia Cross Border Law.