WASHINGTON – The Heritage Foundation released the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s nomination of Joseph Edlow to serve as the next Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Joseph joined Heritage as a visiting fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center in 2022. He previously served as the acting director of USCIS in the first Trump administration following his tenure as USCIS’s chief counsel. Before his time at USCIS, Edlow worked in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, and as counsel to a member of Congress, where he primarily focused on immigration policy. He started his career in federal service by working as an assistant chief counsel with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Baltimore.

Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Border Security and Immigration Center, stated:

“America should have great confidence in Joe Edlow becoming the director of USCIS. He was the acting USCIS director previously, is an experienced immigration attorney – both on the benefits side and as a former ICE attorney, and he is a veteran of the U.S. Congress.

“We look forward to seeing Joe do great things at USCIS to restore our immigration system to a lawful, orderly, and manageable one.”