Feature: A Difficult Job
In the politically charged atmosphere around immigration, Deputy Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Mark Koumans ’82 must sometimes follow the law over his heart.
Jana F. Brown
Koumans (l.) congratulates a new American citizen at a naturalization ceremony aboard the U.S.S. Constitution in Boston.
The ceremonies are the best part of the job. At least a couple of times each quarter, Mark Koumans ’82 has the good fortune of being the first person to address the newest citizens of the United States as Americans. “My parents were immigrants [from the Nether- lands], so it is a great honor for me to be able to administer the oath and be that person who declares them American citizens,” says Koumans, who has served as deputy director of U.S. Citizen- ship and Immigration Services (USCIS) since May 2019. “It’s inspiring.”
The facets of Koumans’s work that are not as enjoyable also have to do with emotion. There are those difficult cases that come across the desk of Koumans and his fellow civil servants carrying out the laws of the U.S., the ones that make their hearts want to say yes, when the laws require a no. Though he has been in his current role for only a year, Koumans is no rookie when it comes to serving his country. He is a three-decade veteran of federal service, having worked in immigration enforcement, immigration foreign policy, security cooperation, and counterterrorism within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State. He oversaw the Visa Waiver Program at DHS for many years.
Koumans addresses new American citizens aboard the U.S.S. Constitution.
According to his official biography, “Prior to joining DHS in 2007, Koumans served for 17 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, where he concentrated on counter- terrorism and security issues beginning in 2003. He started his State Department career as a Consular Officer at the U.S. Consulates General in Amsterdam (1991-93) and Hong Kong (1994-95). Koumans served from January 2018 to May 2019 as the deputy executive assistant commissioner at Enterprise Services, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). During his tenure at CBP, Koumans also served as acting deputy executive assistant commissioner for operations support.”
As the No. 2 in charge at USCIS, Koumans oversees the naturalizations of new U.S. citizens and also the granting of “green cards” that allow immigrants to become permanent residents of the United States. In 2019, he says, the U.S. naturalized close to a million new citizens – thousands a day, a number of which he is very proud. Though the current charged political climate in relation to the immigration crisis at the United States border with Mexico has created a negative perception of the work of welcoming immigrants to America, Koumans sees the work of his agency as often misunderstood. “I think there are a lot of misperceptions out there; people might think that the law should work in such a way that there should be a way to come clean and come out of the shadows and get right with the law,” Koumans says. “But often the law is written in such a way that people do not have that avenue open to them. And then it’s not that we are not showing sympathy or empathy, it’s just that we are required to enforce the law.”
When a policy change is announced, Koumans adds, after input from implementers and practitioners, it has gone through his department’s own legal review as well as legal review by Homeland Security and the White House and the Department of Justice. “At that point,” he says, “it’s incumbent upon USCIS to carry it out; it’s not for officers in the implementation machinery to say they don’t agree.” Koumans himself has served under five presidents – Republicans and Democrats, making him a nonpartisan civil servant, who must enforce the laws as directed by the legislative and executive branches. “We get political direction from the White House and DHS with respect to policies and regulations,” he says. “The policy direction comes from them. Just like when I was in the Foreign Service, you don’t get to create foreign policy, you advise, you give your best advice on the implications, costs, etc. But policy-makers set the course and you implement it.”
He acknowledges that there are times when those charged with executing policy can struggle with the best way to make it happen, but stresses that “the country relies on the fact that civil servants will carry out the lawful instructions of the decision-makers.” There is quite a bit of variety in his capacity at USCIS, where Koumans splits his attention between external engagement with other actors in the government and internal management of his team. Koumans may be summoned to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress about policy concerns. He also finds himself in regular meetings with the leadership of other federal agencies within Homeland Security, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), CBP, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). He also meets weekly for briefings with Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf about the challenges on the border.
One of the biggest tests facing Koumans and his colleagues at USCIS is public perception. According to a Gallup poll, immigration was listed by Americans who responded as the No. 2 most important non-economic problem facing America today in each of the monthly polls between June and December 2019. Immigration as an issue ranked only behind poor government leadership and was listed ahead of racism, poverty, healthcare, and the environment. Between July – the height of the border crisis – and December, however, the percentage of people who thought so dropped from 27 percent to 10 percent.
In a more recent Gallup poll, released January 13, 2020, participants were asked to rank issues in relation to how they will vote as extremely important, very import- ant, or somewhat important. Immigration (28%) was ranked sixth on that list, behind healthcare (35%), terrorism/national security (34%), gun policy (34%), education (33%), and the economy (30%). An additional 46% of potential voters listed immigration as very important. “In the current climate, there is a lot more public attention on [immigration] than in previous years,” says Koumans. “There are often very powerful examples and very compelling instances that people can point to. When dealing with 7.5 million applicants per year for all of the various USCIS immigration benefits, there are always going to be people who might feel as though they have not been given the consideration they should have been given or treated as fairly as they wanted.”
During some of his time at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Koumans (far left) served as assistant commissioner for international affairs. While at CBP, he met with World Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya (far right).
A common misunderstanding that Koumans encounters frequently is the belief that if someone of undocumented status marries an American citizen, then he or she should have an easy way to become an American citizen. But it’s not that simple. There are those who may be in that situation, and even have children who are American citizens, but if they entered the country illegally and have not gone through all the necessary steps, they may face a multi-year ban from the United States – this is what the law requires regardless of the views of the civil servants responsible for implementing it. This provision, still in force today, is part of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, put into law by President Bill Clinton.
“There is a very tangled web of laws and policies and regulations,” Koumans says. “In those cases, there is often a public perception that those people should not be removed from the country. But it’s up to Congress to fix that law. Those who are required to enforce the law are not being unempathetic. But those are among the toughest of cases.” The question of offering entry into the U.S. for asylum-seekers is perhaps the biggest logistical battle, says Koumans, because, of the millions who approach the border, only a small percentage (for many years less than 20 percent) will be granted asylum by the judge presiding over their case. Most leave their countries of origin for economic reasons more than reasons of security, violence, or racial or religious persecution, making them less likely to qualify for asylum. Of the roughly 900,000 asylum- seekers awaiting court dates, it’s expected that 80 to 90 percent will not receive asylum.
“There are people who obviously warrant and deserve protection,” he says. “And what we try to do given the record volumes we are facing is innovate so that we can more expeditiously give them the immigration benefits that they are eligible for. But then for those who do not qualify under the law – don’t grant them the benefits they are not eligible for.” An article published at the end of November by the Associated Press asserts that “asylum was once almost an afterthought.” That is, until numbers surged at the U.S. border in 2017. “Nearly half of the roughly 1 million cases in backlogged U.S. immigration courts,” the article states, “are asylum claims, with most from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.” Koumans points to a paragraph in that article to help explain why the current crisis has reached such a crescendo. “Asylum is designed for people fleeing persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political beliefs or membership in a social group. It isn’t intended for people who migrate for economic reasons, but many consider it their best hope of escaping poverty and violence.”
That quote, says Koumans, captures what U.S. immigration officials are seeing at the U.S./Mexican border – the small percentage of asylum-seekers who are actually granted refuge based on individual circumstance explains why there has not been ample space or ample resources to safely house all those wishing to live in America as they await their fate. Koumans wishes there was a cure-all – a “silver bullet” – that could solve the immigration crisis. There is still hope that Congress will pass legislation to further address immigration reform. He points to a need for bipartisanship that works in the spirit of collaboration and compromise to make that happen. “That could fix a number of things,” Koumans says. “In the absence of legal change, we sometimes can try new interpretations. New policy directions can sometimes help or sometimes add complexity. I am grateful that there are policies in place and that the crisis has abated since last spring. People might agree or disagree on policies, but the bottom line is those policies are working to alleviate the crisis.” Regardless of the many challenges that remain, Koumans continues to gain inspiration from the men and women who become American citizens at the naturalization ceremonies over which he presides. Every worker in USCIS is granted a certain number of administrative hours to attend these heartening ceremonies, so they have a chance to help welcome the country’s newest citizens.
“Historically, there are a lot of first-generation Americans in the Foreign Service,” says Koumans. “USCIS came at the end [of my career], but coincidentally enough we also have a large number of immigrants and children of immigrants among our staff.” In addition to naturalizing nearly a million new citizens in 2019, the U.S. granted close to 700,000 green cards – an 11-year record. Among the new citizens Koumans met at a recent ceremony in Baltimore was a cancer researcher from South Asia and three generations of women from one Eastern European family, who all became Americans on the same day. He presided over a particularly emotional ceremony aboard the U.S.S. Constitution ahead of the Fourth of July last summer. “It’s so inspiring,” says Koumans. “I don’t think Americans know how many people from so many different countries are here, following their dreams, and doing so well. The ceremonies bring people to tears. It chokes me up too. For these new citizens, it is the culmination of all the time and energy toward this day. It’s a moment they remember for the rest of their lives, and it’s an honor to be there with them.”