She once reigned as Miss Massachusetts after competing in Donald Trump’s Miss USA beauty contest. Now Dana Morgan wants to help the country’s newest residents navigate now-President Trump’s controversial immigration policies.
In 2001, Morgan (née Powell) was an Emerson College student living in Brookline when she decided to compete in the Miss USA contest. She only had a brief glimpse of Trump at the national contest held in Gary, Indiana, that year.
“He had a very powerful presence,” Morgan said in a recent phone interview. .
Morgan, now 37 and based in Atlanta, graduated from law school in 2014 and says she wanted to use her education to help people. During the last presidential campaign, she said she had an “epiphany” that immigration law might be her calling given her own family’s story from Jamaica.
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“I am looking forward to participating in achieving our president’s goal of making America great again by helping the foreign-born contribute to our economy and share their gifts and talents with our society,” Morgan said.
Trump’s ban would temporarily prevent immigrants from seven, predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. The order sparked protests around the country, and it was eventually suspended by a federal court.
When asked whether she believd Trump’s order was constitutional, Morgan replied, “I wholeheartedly believe the January 27 order was hastily drafted and executed, which is why we are now awaiting a new, and hopefully improved, order to be released any day now.”
James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell or subscribe to his Ground Game newsletter on politics:http://pages.email.bostonglobe.com/GroundGameSignUp