E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
North America

North America

United States
Canada
Mexico

North America is a dynamic migration region, with the United States home to more immigrants than any other country in the world, the Mexico-U.S. corridor the globe's top migration corridor, and Canada a leading destination for migrants. Research collected here focuses on everything from visa policy and border management to immigrant integration, national identity, the demographics of immigrants in the region and their educational and workforce outcomes, and ways to more effectively use migration policy as a lever for national and regional competitiveness.

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Commentaries

Canada's New Tech Talent Strategy Takes Aim at High-Skilled Immigrants in the United States

Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy is highly unusual for its explicit targeting of visa holders in another country. Opening a dedicated stream specifically for high-skilled immigrants in the United States who hold an H-1B visa is the latest salvo in a growing global competition for talent—one in which some countries are racing ahead of the United States in terms of policy dynamism, as this commentary explores.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other leaders at the 2022 Summit of the Americas
Commentaries

The Los Angeles Declaration Could Represent a Big Step for Real Migration Cooperation across the Americas

The Los Angeles Agreement on Migration and Protection signed by leaders from 20 countries across the Western Hemisphere at the 2022 Summit of the Americas marks a significant step forward in creating a common language and a coherent set of ideas for more cooperatively managing migration movements across a region that has seen very significant mobility in recent years, as this commentary explains.

Recent Activity

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Articles
October 1, 2015
Green-Card Holders and Legal Immigration to the United States
By Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova
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Multimedia
September 28, 2015
Overcoming WIOA’s Barriers to Immigrant and Refugee Adult Learners
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Multimedia
September 21, 2015
Left Behind: How the Well-Being of Children Is Affected by Parental Deportation
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Multimedia
September 11, 2015
Growing Up in America: The Extent and Impacts of Discrimination on Young Children from Immigrant Families
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Reports
September 2015
Implications of Immigration Enforcement Activities for the Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families: A Review of the Literature
By  Randy Capps, Heather Koball, Andrea Campetella, Krista Perreira, Sarah Hooker and Juan Manuel Pedroza
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Reports
September 2015
Health and Social Service Needs of U.S.-Citizen Children with Detained or Deported Immigrant Parents
By  Heather Koball, Randy Capps, Sarah Hooker, Krista Perreira, Andrea Campetella, Juan Manuel Pedroza, William Monson and Sandra Huerta
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Multimedia
September 16, 2015
What's New in Farm Labor? Immigration and the Agricultural Sector
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Articles
September 15, 2015
Fierce Opposition, Court Rulings Place Future of Family Immigration Detention in Doubt
By Muzaffar Chishti and Faye Hipsman

Pages

Top Ten
December 1, 2009
Enforcement Tactics Shift in the Obama Era - But What About Immigration Reform?

In the absence of congressional action on any broad immigration reform, the election of President Barack Obama was expected to lead to changes in U.S. immigration policy at the executive level.

Top Ten
December 1, 2009
Canada Bucks the Trend and Keeps Immigration Targets Steady

Despite the highest unemployment rate in nearly a decade, Canada chose to leave untouched its long-standing points system and the number of immigrants admitted for permanent residence.

Top Ten
December 1, 2009
More Countries Entering into Post 9/11-Era Information-Sharing Agreements

Over the past year, long-standing discussions and negotiations have resulted in several new information-sharing initiatives that seek to boost security while facilitating travel for legitimate travelers.

Policy Beat
November 16, 2009
Senate Avoids Adding an Immigration Wrinkle to the 2010 U.S. Census

MPI's Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron report on a proposal to ask about citizenship in the decennial census, ICE's new 287(g) agreements, the end of the HIV travel ban, and more.

Spotlight
November 13, 2009
Immigration Enforcement in the United States

In 2008, there were just under 800,000 apprehensions, the lowest number since 1975. MPI's Kristen McCabe and Jeanne Batalova take a detailed look at the latest immigration enforcement statistics.

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Recent Activity

Reports
September 2014

Diploma, Please: Promoting Educational Attainment for DACA- and Potential DREAM Act-Eligible Youth

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is unprecedented in the scope of its educational requirements. This report provides sociodemographic snapshots of three key DACA groups, explores the challenges to their educational success, and offers recommendations for educators and other stakeholders looking to support the educational attainment of these young unauthorized immigrants.
Articles
September 15, 2014

Canadian Immigrants in the United States

Between 1960 and 2012 the share of Canadians in the U.S. foreign-born population declined from 10 to 2 percent, while the actual number of Canadian immigrants has remained remarkably steady. Using the most up-to-date statistics, this profile examines the Canadian immigrant population by size, age, location, college education, and more.

Articles
September 10, 2014

Central American Migrants and “La Bestia”: The Route, Dangers, and Government Responses

Central American migrants have long hopped freight trains known as "La Bestia," or the beast, to get through Mexico en route to the United States. While Mexico has been accused of turning a blind eye to this traffic, U.S. outcry over the surge of unaccompanied child migrants has drawn new attention to the use of the trains. This article highlights the journey aboard the trains, the dangers faced by migrants, and responses by the Mexican government and others.

Commentaries
September 2014

County-Level View of DACA Population Finds Surprising Amount of Ethnic & Enrollment Diversity

County- and state-level data examining the populations potentially eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program show an interesting level of ethnic and enrollment diversity that is obscured when examining national-level findings. This commentary examines a few of the findings learned from the new MPI profiles of DACA populations in 36 counties, which are accessible via an online data tool.
Reports
September 2014

Immigrant Civic Integration and Service Access Initiatives: City-Sized Solutions for City-Sized Needs

Large immigration flows challenge destination cities to find innovative ways to meet the needs of immigrant residents and promote their integration. This report examines the successful integration strategies of five U.S. cities—Cupertino and San Francisco, CA; Littleton, CO; New York City; and Seattle—and offers lessons for local governments looking to implement their own initiatives.
Reports
September 2014

Residential Segregation: A Transatlantic Analysis

Where does residential segregation come from, and why does it vary significantly across minority groups and country contexts? This report explores these questions and examines the policy tools that lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic have used to address the segregation of immigrant groups.
Audio, Webinars
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.

Policy Briefs
September 2014

Executive Action for Unauthorized Immigrants: Estimates of the Populations that Could Receive Relief

In the absence of legislative movement to reform the U.S. immigration system, the Obama administration is considering executive action to provide relief from deportation to some of the nation's estimated 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants. This issue brief examines a number of scenarios for possible executive action, estimating how many people could benefit.

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