University Law School Prof. David Martin was recently awarded the Excellence in International Migration Scholarship Award by the Center for Migration Studies in New York City.
Martin is the current Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law, and has taught at the Law School for 35 years. Outside of academia, Martin has worked on immigration and security policies for three different presidential administrations.
Martin was also recently appointed to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, which conducts research on security issues, analyzes the implementation of security policies and provides advice to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
During the CMS award reception, Martin spoke about Immigration’s Enigma Principle and its relevance to the current refugee crises in Europe, essentially that in helping migrants, countries must ensure they do not overreach themselves to the point where serious consequences set in.
“Protection must observe limits, sometimes painful and counterintuitive limits, in order to maximize protection strategically,” Martin said. “But a corollary also applies — the enigma analogy must not be seen as an excuse for inaction.”
Going forward, though we all want a state of perfect security and humanitarianism, Martin said it must be acknowledged that these two concepts cannot exist together in total harmony.
“I think it’s important to use refugee resettlement in a way to protect people, but one has to have a sense of proportion and timing,” he said.
An educational institute that studies patterns of international migration, the CMS also offers consulting on international migration issues to policy makers, researchers, faith-based groups, NGOs and other organizations, including the United Nations.
Correction: This article previously incorrectly attributed a quote that stated that an influx of immigrants raises wages for everyone to Prof. Martin. He did not say this.
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