What Makes Management

The difficulty in distinguishing effective leadership and effective management coincides with the popularity of the leader’s decision among the population. This is the predicament that confronts Lee Francis Cissna. The controversy around Cissna’s leadership originates with the new rules implement under his leadership in the Department of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, in addition to the controversial modification in the agency’s mission statement, which did not set well with many of President Trump’s opponents and critics. It can be recalled that President Donald Trump appointed Lee Francis Cissna as Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services after serving as Director of Immigration Policy in the Office of Policy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. President Trump became very popular after he went after a lot of the undocumented immigrants settling in the United States and ordered for their arrest and deportation. President Trump believed that the reason why America is being held back is because of the illegal immigrants who are leeching off of the government. Trump blamed this to the previous administration who implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which prevented the deportation of almost 700,000 individuals who entered the US without proper documentation as children ("Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, 2019). This policy wanted to create an impression that it was not the children’s fault when they entered the US territory without the proper visa. The Obama Administration believed that these children were simply victims of chance because of their parent’s poor decision. Thus, they should not be made liable for such mistakes. Unfortunately, this simply created bigger problems because it was used by parents and guardians of minor children as an anchor to stay and demand support from the government as well. As a result, this brought several social, and economic repercussions that were not anticipated by the government. Given these results, it became the advocacy of the Trump Administration to abolish this practice and build a wall that will deter illegal immigrants from entering the US territory. Implementing this advocacy is given to Director Cissna. This paper will review Cissna’s effectiveness in managing the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services amidst the controversies surround his decisions. Assessment of Cissna’s effectiveness will be based on the leadership concepts and theories in Management. Overall, the goal of this paper is to justify that Cissna is an effective leader despite his unpopularity and the controversies hurdled against his leadership. 

Lee Francis Cissna: Effective Management and Governance 

President Donald Trump nominated Lee Francis Cissna on April 8, 2017 to serve as Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Trump’s nomination was based on the performance of Cissna as Director of Immigration Policy of the US Department of Homeland Security. President Trump was impressed with the result of Cissna’s work related to the displacement of American workers over a number of immigrants with only an H-1B visa. An H-1B visa is a conditional visa awarded to foreign nationals who possess specialized skills. Under this type of visa, a foreign national may legally work in the United Stated for up to the duration of three years. However, this can be extended to six. Upon the expiration of the visa validity, the H-1B visa holder may reapply. In some cases, this visa is not renewed and these immigrants stay in the US without the appropriate document. Nevertheless, while employers can temporarily hire these immigrants, priorities must still be given to American who are eligible to obtain the job. This program of Cissna leveled the playing field for both H-1B visa holders and American skilled workers. In the eyes of many, this showed favor to American skilled workers who felt like they were being robbed off the jobs that were rightfully theirs given their citizenship status ("USCIS Will Temporarily Suspend Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions", 2017). However, for Cissna he was simply implementing his job and providing equal opportunity to all workers as dictated by law. This was also taken kindly by President Trump, not to mention the fact that Cissna delivered what he promised to accomplish with the implementation of the appropriate policy. This initiative relates to the concept of recruitment and decruitment (Robbins & Coulter, 2013, pp. 319-321). These particular concepts suggest leveling the field giving equal opportunity to all applicants and selecting the applicant based their qualifications and credentials not because they offer a cheaper rate than the other. 

Another controversy that followed Cissna during his tenure as Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services was his decision to amend the agency’s mission statement. The United States had always been known as “a nation of immigrants.” In fact, the United States is widely known as the melting of culture because of the diverse cultures and ethnic origin inhabiting in the country. The new mission statement of the agency removed the phrase “USCIS secures America's promise as a nation of immigrants” (Cissna, 2017). Cissna believed that it is about time that the United States break away from this pledge to cater to the needs of foreign immigrants and start prioritizing the needs of its people. Cissna share in the same advocacy of President Trump that there is a need to review the existing policy on citizenship particularly on birthright citizenship and naturalization citizenship. While it cannot be denied that the United States will be a cradle of democracy and an ardent protector of the abused and downtrodden, this phrase does not have to be stated in the agency’s mission statement. In lieu with this, Cissna supports Trump’s Family Separation Policy, where only the birthright citizen will be allowed to stay in the United States, while the non-citizen relatives will be deported back to their country of origin. While this is not popularly supported by everyone in the country, Cissna remains steadfast in his decision to support the advocacy of the President because of the long-term implication of this policy that would benefit the nation. An effective leader is one who stays firm in his decision regardless of the criticisms that he or she might receive for it (Robbins & Coulter, 2013, pp.187). 

Conclusion 

The predicament on the negative implications of the growing number of illegal immigrants in the United States is not without just basis. The effect of the growing rate of undocumented immigrants in the country have not only cause social problems, but political and economic problems as well. Over the years the nation has seen how immigration has significantly affected the country. There is nothing wrong with offering assistance to other nations that need the help, especially if one nation has enough resources to do so. However, if the nation will risk the welfare of its own people and comprise their own stability and security just to show that they are humane is not acceptable. Taxpayers have the right to enjoy the fruits of their labor. This goes to say that US citizens who are contributing into the system should not have to sacrifice only to be stolen from and treated unfairly on their hard-earned money. The United States is a rich nation who has shown humanitarian support to other nations over the years. However, they should not carry on their shoulder the burden of supporting the world because even a rich nation has exhaustible resources. A steadfast leader would understand that while his decisions may be widely criticized and may be considered unpopular, the principle of utilitarianism must be uphold. In this case, the manager must weigh in the consequences of his actions and favor what would greatly benefit the nation. In this case, supporting the advocacy of the President on the new immigration policy is for the greater good. 

Reference 

Cissna, L. (2017). USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna on New Agency Mission Statement. Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-director-l-francis-cissna-new-agency-mission-statement 

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). (2019). Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca 

Robbins, S., & Coulter, M. (2013).  Management  (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 

USCIS Will Temporarily Suspend Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/archive/uscis-will-temporarily-suspend-premium-processing-all-h-1b-petitions