Mark Krikorian | |
|---|---|
 Krikorian in 2019 | |
| Born | 1960 or 1961 (age 64–65) |
Mark Krikorian (born 1960 or 1961)[1] is an American activist who has been the executive director of theCenter for Immigration Studies, an American anti-immigrationthink tank. Since 1995. Krikorian has been a contributor toNational Review, a conservative publication.[2] Krikorian is credited with popularizing the concept of illegal immigrantself-deportation with the term "attrition through enforcement",[3] and is an advisor toProject 2025,[4] a right-wing conservative political initiative bythe Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Krikorian was born in the United States to American-born parents of Armenian descent fromthe (former) Soviet Republic. His father worked as a chef and restaurant manager, moving his family from New Haven, to Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, and then Boston again, always living in densely Armenian neighborhoods.[5] His parents spoke to their children inArmenian but to each other in English. Krikorian knew only Armenian when he entered kindergarten.[5] He lost his right eye to aretinal blastoma while still a baby.[5]
He earned his B.A. atGeorgetown University and a master's at theFletcher School of Law and Diplomacy atTufts University, further spending two years studying at theYerevan State University in then-Soviet Armenia.[6][5]
Krikorian was an editor at theWinchester Star, a local newspaper in Virginia, and worked aseditor of anelectronic media publication onmarketing. He wrote for the monthly newsletter of theFederation for American Immigration Reform, before joining CIS in February 1995.[5] A comment in one of his articles in theNational Review was called misogynistic; he had said about President Obama that he was "an effete vacillator who is pushed around by his female subordinates".[7]
In January 2013,ABC News listed Krikorian as one of the top 20 immigration experts to follow onTwitter in the United States.[8] In September 2024 Krikorian testified before Congress, being questioned about comments he made about Haiti, which he said was "so screwed up because it wasn't colonized long enough".[4]
