Joseph Edlow has been nominated for the position of Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency responsible for overseeing lawful immigration to the United States, including processing visa petitions, naturalization applications, refugee and asylum requests, and other immigration benefits.
Edlow served as the Deputy Director for Policy at USCIS from 2020 to 2021 and was selected as Acting Director of USCIS at the end of the first Trump Administration. As Acting Director, “he gained valuable insight into all USCIS operations, including the adjudication of petitions and applications, as well as its critical humanitarian mission.”
Prior to that, he was Chief Counsel at USCIS, overseeing a legal team responsible for all agency-related legal matters.
From 2022 to 2024 he was a Visiting Fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, commenting on border and immigration issues and policies.
Before joining USCIS, he was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, where he focused on immigration regulatory matters. He also served as counsel to the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee and worked in the Office of Representative Raúl Labrador, concentrating on enforcement and criminal immigration issues.
Edlow began his federal service as an Assistant Chief Counsel with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Baltimore Field Office, litigating cases before U.S. Immigration Courts. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University and a Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.