OPINION:
Zohran Mamdani, a Ugandan-born New York State Assembly member, was recently elected mayor of New York City, the largest metropolis in the U.S. We in America often take for granted that a naturalized U.S. citizen can aspire to hold prominent federal, state and local positions.
This is unique to the U.S. and a select few countries that welcome legal migration and provide naturalized citizens with the same rights as those available to natural-born citizens.
I’ve spent almost two decades living in other countries and can assure you that in most countries, there is no clear path for foreign-born inhabitants to acquire citizenship and hold office. In fact, even buying property is problematic in many of these countries.
Except for the president and vice president, who must be natural-born citizens (Article 11, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution), naturalized citizens can hold offices in the Congress and in federal, state and local governments. Indeed, Madeleine K. Albright, a naturalized citizen born in Czechoslovakia, was secretary of state. Henry Kissinger, born in Germany, was national security adviser and secretary of state. Elaine L. Chao, born in Taiwan, was secretary of labor and transportation. These are just a few prominent Americans who became naturalized citizens and went on to serve our country with distinction.
The Somali-born Ilhan Omar, a member of the House of Representatives from Minnesota, and Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, born in Japan and representing Hawaii, are two of 30 members of the 119th Congress not born in the U.S. The list of naturalized Americans who contributed to our nation’s economic growth, academic excellence, athletic prowess and the arts is awe-inspiring. Indeed, our country’s open-door immigration policy has contributed to making the U.S. the “shining city on a hill.”
This policy of legal migration has served our republic well. Our elected officials must ensure that we continue to care for all the people and ensure that terrorists, narco-traffickers, criminals and state-supported proxies are prevented from entering our country and causing harm to our people and institutions.
Here’s a list of just a few of the domestic law enforcement issues requiring immediate attention from federal, state and local authorities, as well as the representatives elected by the people to ensure that the proliferation of crime in the U.S. is managed on a priority basis:
Drug trafficking: More than 100,000 people in the U.S. die from overdoses annually, largely driven by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin entering from Mexico, Colombia and South American cartels.
Human trafficking and exploitation: Transnational criminal networks traffic migrants, women and children for labor and sex across borders, including into the U.S.
Cybercrime and financial theft: Russian, Chinese, North Korean and Eastern European cybercriminal groups target U.S. individuals, corporations and infrastructure with ransomware attacks, identity theft and bank fraud, costing U.S. companies and consumers tens of billions of dollars annually. Such cyberattacks also threaten critical infrastructure such as energy grids, hospitals and water systems.
Money laundering and corruption: Criminal organizations launder billions of dollars through U.S. real estate, shell companies, cryptocurrency and luxury goods.
National security threats: Transnational criminal groups often collaborate with hostile states or terrorist networks, often blurring the line between organized crime and geopolitical conflict.
Economic and social costs: Drug deaths, cyber losses, law enforcement costs and social disruption likely exceed hundreds of billions of dollars annually, with communities suffering from increased violence, addiction and corruption.
Despite the efforts of the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and departments of Homeland Security and Treasury, the adaptability of criminal groups and the global nature of technology and finance — and the support of countries determined to cause harm to the U.S. — make enforcement increasingly difficult.
The U.S. experiment with an open-door policy for legal migration to the U.S. has been a great success. It’s why the U.S. is the “shining city on a hill.” We should not take this for granted. We and our elected representatives must work even harder to rid the country of organized crime and defeat our adversaries who wish us harm.
• The author is a former special envoy for six-party talks with North Korea and former director of the National Counterproliferation Center. All statements of fact, opinion and analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the U.S. government. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying U.S. government authentication of information or endorsement of the author’s views.
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