Margaret Stock

Stock was born in Boston in 1961 and grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She was the fourth of nine children. When she was six years old, her father had the first of several heart attacks, and he died when she was 15. The family was in crisis, and she spent time in a homeless shelter and a foster home. While in high school, she got involved the Civil Air Patrol but she dropped out of high school before graduating.[6]

A high school guidance counselor helped her gain admission to Boston University, where she enlisted in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. She completed paratrooper training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and later transferred to Harvard.[6]

Stock graduated from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges in 1985 (A.B., with honors in Government); Harvard Law School in 1992[7] (J.D., with honors); Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2001(M.P.A.); and U.S. Army War College in 2006 (Masters of Strategic Studies).[7]

Stock led the development of three programs pertaining to immigration issues within the US military. The Military accessions vital to national interest (MAVNI) program, started in 2008, in cooperation with the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, helped the U.S. armed forces to attract and retain foreign nationals with language, medical, and other skills critical to military readiness and national security.[2][8][4] She spearheaded the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) MAP program, "which pairs volunteer attorneys across the United States" with military families in need of their services.[2][8][4] She also helped start the naturalization at Basic Combat Training program.[2][9]

Stock has also spent many years teaching. From 2001 to 2010, she worked as a professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point[2] first in the Department of Law, then in the Department of Social Sciences. She also taught at University of Alaska Anchorage[2] in the political science department for two years.

The Washington Times called her "the foremost authority on military veterans facing deportation."[10]

Stock has testified regularly before Congress on issues involving immigration and national security.[11]

Running as an independent, Stock came in third in the 2016 U.S. Senate election, winning 13.2% of the vote, approximately 5,000 more than Democratic candidate Ray Metcalfe.[12]

• 2013 – MacArthur Fellowship by John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• 2009 – Joint Service Commendation Medal by United States Armed Forces
• 2008 – Michael Maggio Pro Bono Award by American Immigration Lawyers Association[13]
• 2005 – Advocacy Award by American Immigration Lawyers Association

• What Every Lawyer Needs to Know about Non-Citizens & the United States Military, in What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Immigration Law, American Bar Association, Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice (2014) (book chapter).
• AILA's Guide to U.S. Citizenship & Naturalization Law, American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2014, at 153–182 (book chapter).
• Immigration Law and the Military (American Immigration Lawyers Association 2012) (book).
• Professionals: A Matter of Degree (5th Ed.) (co-authored with Martin J. Lawler) (AILA 2009).
• The Role of Immigration in A Coordinated National Security Policy, 21 Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 383 (2007) (co-authored with Donald Kerwin).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Margaret Stock.

• Margaret Stock campaign website
• Washington Post interview – "MacArthur fellow Margaret Stock: The public ‘doesn’t understand’ illegal immigration"