vailsymposium

Jessica M. Vaughan is Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, DC-based research institute that examines the impact of immigration on American society and educates policymakers and opinion leaders on immigration issues. She has been with the Center since 1992, and her area of expertise is immigration policy and operations, covering topics such as visa programs, immigration benefits and immigration enforcement. Vaughan is an expert on immigration enforcement and public safety, having directed a Department of Justice-funded project on the use of immigration law enforcement in transnational gang suppression. In addition, she is an instructor for senior law enforcement officer training seminars at Northwestern University’s Center for Public Safety in Illinois.

Prior to joining the Center, Vaughan was a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department, where she served in Belgium and Trinidad & Tobago. Her articles have appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, National Review, Boston Globe, The Economist, San Francisco Chronicle, the National Interest, Arizona Republic, and other publications, and can be found at cis.org. She has testified before Congress dozens of times and advises state lawmakers and agencies on immigration issues. She is frequently cited in news media reports on immigration, and has appeared on NPR, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and PBS’s NewsHour.

Vaughan has a Master’s degree from Georgetown University and earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies at Washington College in Maryland.