MICHAEL CUTLER – graduated from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in February 1971 with a B.A. in Communications Arts and Sciences and is a retired Senior Special Agent of the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service).
He began his 30 year career in 1971 as an Immigration Inspector, served as an Adjudications Officer and, in 1975, became a Special Agent. He rotated through every squad in the Investigations Branch of the INS in New York City.
In 1988 he became the first INS agent to be assigned to the Unified Intelligence Division of the DEA and in 1991 was promoted to the position of Senior Special Agent and assigned to the Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force where he worked closely with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies including the DEA, FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service and with law enforcement agencies of other countries including Israel, Canada, Great Britain and Japan.
Mr. Cutler provided testimony to the 9/11 Commission and has testified before numerous state legislative hearings throughout the United States. He assisted the law firm retained by Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer to defend her and her state against the DOJ lawsuit in response to Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070. He also provides expert witness testimony at trials where immigration is at issue and has also testified at the more recent hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 20, 2013 on the topic, “Building an Immigration System Worthy of American Values.”
His unusual career has given him extensive insight into most aspects of immigration and provided an intimate view on how immigration impacted other law enforcement agencies within the United States.