Last updated on: 2/16/2018 | Author: ProCon.org

Michael Wildes, JD Biography

Title:
Managing Partner at Wildes and Weinberg PC
Position:
Not Clearly Pro or Con to the question "Should the Government Allow Immigrants Who Are Here Illegally to Become US Citizens?"
Reasoning:

“It’s a logistical impossibility to deport 11 million people. There aren’t enough handcuffs. There aren’t enough jails. There aren’t enough beds. There aren’t enough planes to remove 11 million people and build walls and dismantle sanctuary cities. It’s an impossibility, both practically and constitutionally…

This great experiment that is American democracy is greater than any one individual, and its major component, its DNA, rests on immigration. If we can fix this broken system, we will not only protect our homeland, we will also protect an economy that needs it.”

Joanne Palmer, “How Did Melania Trump Get U.S. Citizenship?,” jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com, Dec. 22, 2016
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with advanced degrees in fields relevant to immigration. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to immigration.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Adjunct Professor of Immigration Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, 2011-present
  • Managing Partner, Wildes and Weinberg PC, 2010-present
  • Chair, American Jewish Congress’ Committee on International Terrorism
  • Member, Board of Directors, B’nai Zion
  • Member, Hatzoloh Volunteer Ambulance Corps
  • Appointed Member, Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigrant Policy, 2007-2011
  • Mayor, Englewood, New Jersey, 2004-2010
  • Immigration lawyer, Wildes and Weinberg PC, 1993-2010
  • Federal Prosecutor and Special Assistant, US Attorney’s Office, 1989-1993
  • Former City Council Member, Englewood, New Jersey
  • Auxiliary police officer, New York Police Department, 1982-1992
Education:
  • JD, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 1989
  • BA, magna cum laude, Political Science, Queens College, 1986
Other:
  • Has represented First Lady Melania Trump and her parents
  • His father, Attorney Leon Wildes, successfully defended John Lennon and Yoko Ono during deportation proceedings.
Quoted in:
  1. Should State or Local Governments Help Enforce Federal Immigration Laws?