National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy

Policy Briefs

April 2024

Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families through Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Services

Young girl talks to a child psychologist

iStock.com/Lacheev

Infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) services can offer vital support for young children’s healthy development. Yet, young children in immigrant and refugee families often do not benefit, due in part to lower levels of health-care coverage and limited cultural responsiveness in the field. This issue brief explores the benefits and barriers to supporting these children via IECMH services, and some ways to close key gaps.

Reports

January 2024

Refining State Accountability Systems for English Learner Success

A high school student answers a math problem on a whiteboard

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

State accountability systems are designed to identify and close student achievement gaps. Yet most do not report and interpret English Learner (EL) outcomes in a way that paints a full picture of how different instructional services have contributed to academic development. This report sketches a vision for reimagined accountability systems that can support better understanding of ELs’ learning and inform school improvement strategies.

Reports

November 2023

The Unmet Potential of Community Consultations in U.S. Refugee Resettlement

Young woman speaks to other participants at a meeting

iStock.com/SDI Productions

As humanitarian migrant arrivals in the United States increase, via refugee resettlement and channels such as temporary parole, communication between the national, state, and local actors involved in supporting their reception and integration is critical. This report examines the goals and design of quarterly resettlement consultations, as well as opportunities to refine these processes to boost their impact and relevance in a changing policy landscape.

Fact Sheets

October 2023

Recent Immigrant Children: A Profile of New Arrivals to U.S. Schools

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

A significant increase in the number of immigrant children in U.S. schools over the last decade has challenged K-12 educators to expand their capacity to serve students with different backgrounds and educational needs. This fact sheet sketches a profile of recently arrived immigrant children, presenting data on top states of residence, national origins, household characteristics, and more.

Policy Briefs

October 2023

Leveraging Data to Ensure Equitable and Effective Adult Skills Programming for Immigrants

Adult immigrant students work together in an English class

iStock.com/shironosov

Immigrants make significant contributions to the U.S. economy and social fabric, but many also face barriers to integration. Adult education and workforce development programs offer services intended to help address such challenges yet can be mismatched to immigrants' needs. This issue brief sketches a profile of U.S.-born and immigrant adults, highlighting key similarities and differences relevant to the design of adult skills programs.

Policy Briefs

July 2023

ESSER: Moving the Needle on Equitable and Adequate Education Funding for English Learners

4th and 5th grade students working on posters

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

The pandemic and move to remote learning affected students across the United States, and certain groups—including the nation’s 5 million English Learners (ELs)—were hit particularly hard. At the same time, the federal government made unprecedented investments in public K-12 education to counter the pandemic’s adverse impacts. This issue brief explores the ways school districts have invested these funds to support ELs.

Featured

English Learners and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes a number of new requirements for the education of English Learners (ELs), including standardized criteria for identifying EL students and inclusion of English proficiency as a measurement of school quality. Resources on this page can help inform decisions such as how quickly schools must improve and how states can intervene with struggling districts.

Featured

ELL Information Center

The English Language Learner (ELL) Information Center provides informative fact sheets, maps, and state-level data resources that chronicle the demography and trends of immigrant families and their children.

Recent Activity

Fact Sheets March 2019 Immigrant-Origin Adults without Postsecondary Credentials: A 50-State Profile By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix	Commentaries March 2019 More Than a DREAM (Act), Less Than a Promise By Julia Gelatt
Multimedia March 8, 2019 Upskilling the U.S. Labor Force: Mapping the Credentials of Immigrant-Origin Workers	Reports March 2019 Credentials for the Future: Mapping the Potential for Immigrant-Origin Adults in the United States By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix
Reports December 2018 Promoting Refugee Integration in Challenging Times: The Potential of Two-Generation Strategies By Mark Greenberg, Julia Gelatt, Jessica Bolter, Essey Workie and Isabelle Charo	Reports November 2018 Minnesota’s Superdiverse and Growing Dual Language Learner Child Population By Caitlin Katsiaficas and Maki Park
Multimedia November 20, 2018 Building Bridges Not Walls: Key Lessons from the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report on Migration and Displacement	Multimedia October 30, 2018 Surviving vs. Thriving: The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Adult Education for Immigrants and Refugees

Pages

Reports September 2015 The Educational, Psychological, and Social Impact of Discrimination on the Immigrant Child By Christia Spears Brown	Reports August 2015 An Analysis of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States by Country and Region of Birth By Marc R. Rosenblum and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
Policy Briefs August 2015 DACA at the Three-Year Mark: High Pace of Renewals, But Processing Difficulties Evident By Angelo Mathay and Margie McHugh	Reports June 2015 The Integration Outcomes of U.S. Refugees: Successes and Challenges By Randy Capps, Kathleen Newland, Susan Fratzke, Susanna Groves, Michael Fix, Margie McHugh and Gregory Auclair
Fact Sheets June 2015 States and Districts with the Highest Number and Share of English Language Learners By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Sarah Hooker and Jeanne Batalova	Fact Sheets June 2015 Top Languages Spoken by English Language Learners Nationally and by State By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Sarah Hooker and Jeanne Batalova
Reports April 2015 Immigrant and Refugee Workers in the Early Childhood Field: Taking a Closer Look By Maki Park, Margie McHugh, Jeanne Batalova and Jie Zong	Reports March 2015 A Profile of Immigrants in Houston, the Nation's Most Diverse Metropolitan Area By Randy Capps, Michael Fix and Chiamaka Nwosu

Pages

EVENTPH 2014.12.3 Executive Action Webinar Flickr The Speaker flickr com photos thespeakernews 15660310918

Video, Audio

December 3, 2014

Digging Deeper Into Executive Action: A Further Examination of the Impacts

A discussion with MPI experts of the less-examined aspects of President Obama's executive actions on immigration, with respect to immigration enforcement, legal immigration, and immigrant integration.

EVENTPH 2014.10.21 11th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conf. USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez

Video, Audio

October 21, 2014

11th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

This conference, keynoted by USCIS Director León Rodríguez, featured panels on local immigrant integration policies; expected executive action on immigration; the treatment of unaccompanied children from Central America; and innovations in government-funded legal counsel and accelerated court cases.

EVENTPH 2014.9.18 Unpacking the Links between Segregation, Community Cohesion, and Opportunity (YouTube)

Video

September 18, 2014

Unpacking the Links between Segregation, Community Cohesion, and Opportunity: A Transatlantic Discussion

In this webinar, experts and policymakers from Europe and the United States discuss the relationship between immigration, residential segregation, community relations, and economic opportunities.

EVENTPH 2014.9.16 DACA DREAM ED REQ. WEBINAR (USDOEDSC_0079 (1))

Audio

September 16, 2014

Realizing the DACA and DREAM Promise: Actions to Support Educational Attainment of Potentially Eligible Immigrant Youth

A discussion and report release on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, how its educational requirements may be impacting application rates, and recommendations for overcoming the education-success challenges that key subgroups of DACA-DREAM youth face.

EVENTPH 2014.9.4 EXEC ACTION PLACEHOLDER (Leading Chants)

Audio

September 4, 2014

Extending New Relief to Unauthorized Immigrants: Estimating the Impacts of Possible Executive Actions

Estimates of unauthorized immigrant populations that could receive relief from deportation under potential executive action scenarios to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, extend deferred action to other populations, or refine immigration enforcement priorities are discussed during this webinar.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs

April 2021

The Integration of Immigrant Health Professionals: Looking beyond the COVID-19 Crisis

The U.S. health-care workforce came under incredible strain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longer-term trends—including the aging and increasing diversity of the U.S. population, and health-care worker retirement—are also shaping demand for services and the supply of health workers. This issue brief looks at how the skills and expertise of underutilized immigrant and refugee health professionals in the United States can be better leveraged to meet these challenges.

Video, Audio, Webinars

April 21, 2021

Disparities Facing U.S. Children in Immigrant Families: New Data and Ideas for Indicators to Promote Equity

MPI analysts discuss their analysis comparing key sociodemographic characteristics of immigrant and U.S.-born parents of young and school-age children, along with the two-generational implications of these findings. Speakers also explored potential ways to incorporate measures with an eye to achieving more responsive and effective service designs and improving equity and access more generally for these families.

Fact Sheets

April 2021

Immigrant and U.S.-Born Parents of Young and Elementary-School-Age Children: Key Sociodemographic Characteristics

Parents play an important role in supporting their children’s education, but certain factors—such as limited English proficiency, low levels of formal education, and digital access barriers—can make it difficult to do so. This fact sheet series looks at the characteristics of immigrant and U.S.-born parents of young and elementary-school-age children in 31 states and nationwide, and discusses how taking a two-generation approach to services can benefit entire families.

Policy Briefs

March 2021

Funding English Learner Education: Making the Most of Policy and Budget Levers

Ensuring that adequate and equitable funding is available to support a high-quality education for English Learners (ELs) is a critical part of making good on the nation’s promise of equal opportunity for all students. This issue brief explores the federal, state, and local sources of funding for EL education; decisions that shape distribution and use of funds; and opportunities for stakeholders and community members to work toward improvements.

Commentaries

February 2021

A Deeper Look at the DREAMers Who Could Feature in the Legalization Debate in Congress

The DREAM Act of 2021 could represent one of the narrower legalization measures with better prospects for passage in a narrowly divided Congress. MPI's latest estimates of the DREAMers who could gain conditional and then permanent legal status are offered here, as are the share of DREAMers who feature in another ongoing conversation, around essential workers in the U.S. labor market overall as well as in the health-care sector.

Commentaries

January 2021

Nearly 3 Million U.S. Citizens and Legal Immigrants Initially Excluded under the CARES Act Are Covered under the December 2020 COVID-19 Stimulus

The pandemic-recovery stimulus package that passed Congress in December rectified what many had viewed as a significant oversight in the earlier CARES Act: Its exclusion of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants in mixed-status families. MPI researchers estimate nearly 3 million U.S. citizens and legal immigrants excluded from the earlier legislation can receive the later relief, as well as qualify retroactively for the CARES Act payment, as this commentary explores.

Commentaries

December 2020

Anticipated “Chilling Effects” of the Public-Charge Rule Are Real: Census Data Reflect Steep Decline in Benefits Use by Immigrant Families

Researchers, service providers, and others have long predicted that sweeping revisions by the Trump administration to the definition of who constitutes a public charge would deter large numbers of immigrant-led households from using federal means-tested public benefits for which they are eligible. Recently released Census Bureau data show they were right: During the administration's first three years, program participation declined twice as fast among noncitizens as citizens.

Commentaries

December 2020

How the Fear of Immigration Enforcement Affects the Mental Health of Latino Youth

The prevalence of mental-health symptoms among Latino high school students, immigrant and U.S. born alike, is closely related to their fears of immigration enforcement. And the situation may have worsened since the researchers sampled this population, given the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic hardship have increased the stress on Latino communities that have been hit disproportionately hard, as this commentary explores.

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