E.g., 04/16/2024
E.g., 04/16/2024
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.

Graphic image of man's hand touching screen with word skills
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

Cover RMSG_Nursing Sector
Reports
February 2013
Strengthening Health Systems in North and Central America: What Role for Migration?
By  Allison Squires and Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez
cover spanish AgSpanishBrief
Fact Sheets
February 2013
Resumen del Sector: Agricultura, Implicaciones para el Capital Humano y la Migración
By  Philip Martin and J. Edward Taylor
cover spanish RMSGmanufacturing
Fact Sheets
February 2013
Resumen del Sector: Manufactura, Implicaciones para el Capital Humano y la Migración
By  Peter A. Creticos and Eleanor Sohnen
cover spanish rmsghealthcare
Fact Sheets
February 2013
Resumen del Sector: Sistema de Salud, Implicaciones para el Capital Humano y la Migración
By  Allison Squires and Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez
SP FRS girls Apr2014
Articles
April 28, 2014
Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States
By Chiamaka Nwosu, Jeanne Batalova, and Gregory Auclair
Articles
January 22, 2013
New DHS Rule Will Help Expedite Permanent Residence for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens
By Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron
2013 ChildrenImmigrants
Multimedia
January 17, 2013
Critical Immigration, Health, and Education Policies Affecting Young Children of Immigrants
MI_FormidableMachinary
Multimedia
January 7, 2013
Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery

Pages

Spotlight
April 1, 2006
The Central American Foreign Born in the United States in 2004

Over half of all Central American foreign born in the United States are from El Salvador and Guatemala. MPI's Megan Davy examines the numbers as well as events and policies that have shaped Central American migration.

Feature
April 1, 2006
Central Americans and Asylum Policy in the Reagan Era

Not long after the United States passed the 1980 Refugee Act, thousands of people began fleeing civil war in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Their treatment in the United States, linked to U.S. foreign policy, spurred the Sanctuary Movement and efforts to grant them refugee status, as Susan Gzesh of the University of Chicago explains.

chato_arrest
Feature
April 1, 2006
National Policies and the Rise of Transnational Gangs

The growth of violent gangs such as MS-13, which operates in the United States and Central America, has caught the attention of the U.S. media and law enforcement. However, the role of migration policies in this growth deserves closer attention, finds MPI's Mary Helen Johnson.

Policy Beat
April 1, 2006
Senate Debates Temporary Worker Program and Path to Legal Status for the Unauthorized

MPI's Julia Gelatt reports on the Judiciary Committee's proposals for immigration reform, which set the stage for Senate debate on the topic, plus other immigration news.

Feature
April 1, 2006
Canada: A Northern Refuge for Central Americans

Although most Central American refugees sought protection in the United States, Canada admitted thousands of Central American refugees in the 1980s. María Cristina García of Cornell University takes a detailed look at Central Americans in Canada

Pages

archive >

Recent Activity

Fact Sheets
February 2013

Resumen del Sector: Manufactura, Implicaciones para el Capital Humano y la Migración

El imperativo de mantener la competitividad de la industria manufacturera — un sector que se encuentra en rápida transformación y globalización — está impulsando a las empresas y diseñadores de políticas de la región de studio (es decir, en los Estados Unidos, México, El Salvador, Guatemala, y Honduras) a buscar nuevas estrategias para atraer la inversión y desarrollar el capital humano en el s

Fact Sheets
February 2013

Resumen del Sector: Agricultura, Implicaciones para el Capital Humano y la Migración

El sector agrícola en los EE.UU., México y Centroamérica se encuentra en medio de una transformación desde hace décadas. La demanda para cultivos intensivos en mano de obra, es decir, frutas, nueces, verduras, melones y especialidades hortícolas, como flores y setas (productos FVH, por sus siglas en inglés), está aumentando junto con la población y el crecimiento de los ingresos en la región.

Reports
February 2013

Strengthening Health Systems in North and Central America: What Role for Migration?

This study explores the intersecting dynamics of evolving demographic trends, shifting epidemiological profiles, and worker migration in five countries in the Americas to develop policy recommendations for health workforce development, specifically for nursing personnel. Countries highlighted are El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the U.S.

Reports
February 2013

Ripe with Change: Evolving Farm Labor Markets in the United States, Mexico, and Central America

This report assesses trends in U.S., Central American, and Mexican agriculture and their implications for farm labor markets, including the demand for skills and its effects on education and workforce development. 

Articles
April 28, 2014

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

The U.S. immigrant population—estimated at 40.8 million in 2012 — is the nation’s historical numerical high, and it is also the largest foreign-born population in the world. About 20 percent of all international migrants reside in the United States, even as the country accounts for less than 5 percent of global population. This article presents the latest, most sought-after data on immigrants in the United States—by origin, residence, legal status, deportations, languages spoken, and more—in one easy-to-use resource.

Articles
January 22, 2013

New DHS Rule Will Help Expedite Permanent Residence for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens

MPI's Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron report on the new Department of Homeland Security rule on the filing of unlawful presence waivers, ICE's FY 2012 deportations and new detainer policy, and more.

Video, Audio
January 17, 2013

Critical Immigration, Health, and Education Policies Affecting Young Children of Immigrants

MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy convened a major public policy research symposium focused on young children of immigrants in the U.S.

Video, Audio
January 7, 2013

Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery

MPI has released a major study that describes and analyzes today’s immigration enforcement programs, as they have developed and grown in the 25 years since IRCA launched the current enforcement era.

Pages