Panel Summary
Table of Contents
Introduction by Mark Krikorian
Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies
Statement by Jesssica Vaughan
Ms. Vaughan serves as the Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies. Mrs. Vaughan covers the operational side of the Center's immigration research, including immigration enforcement, visa programs and benefits adjudication. Prior to joining the Center, Mrs. Vaughan was a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department. Much of Ms. Vaughan's research and writing focuses on immigration and crime, including a Department of Justice-funded project studying the use of immigration law enforcement in transnational gang suppression efforts. .”
Discussion by Hipolito Acosta and A.J Irwin
Mr. Acosta, one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the U.S. Immigration and Nationalization Service, rose through the ranks from Border Patrol Agent to District Director, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services in Houston. He is the author of The Shadow Catcher: A U.S. Agent infiltrates Mexico's Deadly Crime Cartels and co-author with A.J. Irwin of The Hunt for Maan Singh, the story of the largest alien smuggling organization ever dismantled in United States history.
Mr. Irwin, a highly decorated former federal agent, led ICE investigative operations for the central corridor of the United States. He served as lead case agent in the largest corporate criminal immigration investigation in U.S. history and the largest human trafficking investigation, leading to the prosecution of three separate criminal organizations. He is the co-author of The Hunt for Maan Singh, which describes the covert operation that destroyed a worldwide smuggling syndicate.