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

HonduranPride
Articles
August 15, 2019
Central American Immigrants in the United States
By Allison O’Connor, Jeanne Batalova, and Jessica Bolter
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Policy Briefs
August 2019
How Does Immigration Fit into the Future of the U.S. Labor Market?
By  Pia M. Orrenius, Madeline Zavodny and Stephanie Gullo
Coverthumb MPI Holzer Future US Labor Market
Policy Briefs
August 2019
Immigration and the U.S. Labor Market: A Look Ahead
By  Harry J. Holzer
SNAP commentary USDA Flickr
Commentaries
August 2019
Millions Will Feel Chilling Effects of U.S. Public-Charge Rule That Is Also Likely to Reshape Legal Immigration
By  Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and Mark Greenberg
Coverthumb RethinkingImmigration ConceptNote
Policy Briefs
August 2019
Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy: New Realities Call for New Answers
By  Doris Meissner
Coverthumb Border ControltoCrisis Report 2019
Reports
August 2019
From Control to Crisis: Changing Trends and Policies Reshaping U.S.-Mexico Border Enforcement
By  Randy Capps, Doris Meissner, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Jessica Bolter and Sarah Pierce
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Reports
July 2019
Equipping Immigrant Selection Systems for a Changing World of Work (Transatlantic Council Statement)
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Meghan Benton and Kate Hooper
FatherDaughterRioGrandeCrossing_CBPKrisGrogan
Commentaries
July 2019
As the Trump Administration Seeks to Remove Families, Due-Process Questions over Rocket Dockets Abound
By  Sarah Pierce

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Policy Briefs
December 2010
Immigrant Legalization in the United States and European Union: Policy Goals and Program Design
By  Marc R. Rosenblum
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Fact Sheets
December 2010
Updated Estimates of the 2010 DREAM Act
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Fact Sheets
December 2010
Top Languages Spoken by English Language Learners Nationally and by State, 2009
By  Jeanne Batalova and Margie McHugh
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Books
November 2010
Prioritizing Integration
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Policy Briefs
November 2010
Structuring and Implementing an Immigrant Legalization Program: Registration as the First Step
By  Donald M. Kerwin and Laureen Laglagaron
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Reports
November 2010
Voice After Exit: Diaspora Advocacy
By  Kathleen Newland
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Books
November 2010
Diasporas: New Partners in Global Development Policy
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Reports
October 2010
Migration and Immigrants Two Years after the Financial Collapse: Where Do We Stand?
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Madeleine Sumption and Aaron Terrazas

Pages

MexicanMasks antifluor Flickr
Spotlight
March 17, 2016
Mexican Immigrants in the United States

Mexican immigration to the United States has slowed in recent years, and since the Great Recession more Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico than have migrated to the United States. Mexicans, however, remain the largest origin group in the country, accounting for 28 percent of all immigrants. See how Mexican immigrants compare to the overall foreign- and U.S.-born populations on key indicators with this Spotlight article.

ThomasHawk CarnavalSF2015 Flickr
Spotlight
March 1, 2016
South American Immigrants in the United States

Growing rapidly from a population of 90,000 in 1960 to nearly 3 million in 2014, South American immigrants now represent 7 percent of all foreign born in the United States. Family-based immigration is the primary pathway for all South American groups, ranging from 45 percent of Venezuelan immigrants to 97 percent of those from Guyana.

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Policy Beat
February 18, 2016
Increased Central American Migration to the United States May Prove an Enduring Phenomenon

The complex push and pull factors driving child and family migration from Central America to the United States have changed little since the 2014 crisis. Despite some fluctuation in arrival numbers, recent trends suggest the characteristics of an enduring phenomenon. This Policy Beat explores the latest developments in U.S. policy responses, including enforcement operations, development assistance, and family detention.

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Spotlight
February 3, 2016
College-Educated Immigrants in the United States

The number of college-educated immigrants in the United States has more than tripled in the last two decades. Asians accounted for 46 percent of the 10.5 million college-educated immigrants, with India the top origin country. This Spotlight article examines key indicators of the college-educated population, including international students and high-skilled H-1B visa holders.

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Policy Beat
January 20, 2016
With Little Debate, Congress Enacts Broad Range of Immigration Changes in Spending Bill

Passed with minimal controversy and public debate, the 2016 spending bill included some of the most substantial immigration policy changes enacted by Congress in the last decade. The changes touched on aspects including temporary worker visas, visa security, and the immigration courts, and could signal a new strategy for legislative change to the immigration system.

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Audio
July 30, 2009

The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employer Verification Right

This webinar examines the E-Verify system, offering short- and long-term recommendations for improving gaps in employment verification and addressing an "employer-centric" design that exacerbates existing problems.

MI_EVerify_09
Video
July 20, 2009

E-Verify: An Assessment of its Strengths and Weaknesses

This discussion focuses on E-Verify, the federal government's electronic employment verification system, and the release of an MPI report that assesses the program's strengths and weaknesses.
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Video
June 24, 2009

6th Annual Immigration Law & Policy Conference

This conference offers law and policy analysis and discussion on cutting-edge immigration issues.

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Video, Audio
May 20, 2009

2009 E Pluribus Unum Awards

Award winners for the inaugural year of the E Pluribus Unum Prizes program were honored at a reception at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC in 2009.
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Video
May 15, 2009

MPI Symposium on Citizenship

MPI's symposium on citizenship examined immigrant civic and political participation, the notion of local voting rights for noncitizens, the concept and practice of dual citizenship, and the role of citizenship in immigrant integration.

Pages

Recent Activity

Articles
August 15, 2019

Central American Immigrants in the United States

While much attention has been paid to recent Central American arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border, nearly half of the approximately 3.5 million Central Americans resident in the United States in 2017 arrived before 2000. About one-third are naturalized U.S. citizens, and they tend to participate in the labor force at a higher rate than foreign- and U.S.-born adults. Discover more about this population in this data-rich article.

Policy Briefs
August 2019

How Does Immigration Fit into the Future of the U.S. Labor Market?

The U.S. economy is facing an uncertain future as an aging workforce, stagnating labor force participation, skill mismatches, and automation reshape the labor market. This issue brief explores these forces and the role that immigration could play in supporting future U.S. economic growth. It also examines how immigration affects workers already in the country, both native born and immigrant.

Policy Briefs
August 2019

Immigration and the U.S. Labor Market: A Look Ahead

In the coming decades, the U.S. labor market will undergo major transformation. Automation, an aging workforce, and alternative staffing practices will change how, where, and by whom work is done. This think piece, by a former chief economist for the U.S. Labor Department, explores how immigrant workers fit into this changing landscape, and what immigration and workforce policy changes could help maximize their contributions to the U.S. economy.

Commentaries
August 2019

Millions Will Feel Chilling Effects of U.S. Public-Charge Rule That Is Also Likely to Reshape Legal Immigration

The public-charge rule issued by the Trump administration in August 2019 will have profound effects on future immigration and on use of public benefits by millions of legal noncitizens and their U.S.-citizen family members. Complex standards for determining when an immigrant is likely to become a public charge could cause a significant share of the nearly 23 million noncitizens and U.S. citizens in benefits-using immigrant families to disenroll, as this commentary explains.

Policy Briefs
August 2019

Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy: New Realities Call for New Answers

The U.S. immigration system is in desperate need of an overhaul. What has been missing is an alternate vision for a path forward that treats immigration as a strategic resource while also accounting for heightened security and rule-of-law imperatives, which together can further U.S. interests, values, and democratic principles as a society. This concept note outlines a new MPI initiative, Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy, that seeks to fill this gap.

Reports
August 2019

From Control to Crisis: Changing Trends and Policies Reshaping U.S.-Mexico Border Enforcement

How did the U.S. border enforcement picture go in the span of two years from the lowest levels of illegal immigration since 1971 to a spiraling border security and humanitarian crisis? This report draws on enforcement and other data as well as analysis of changing migration trends and policies to tell this story. The authors outline key elements for a new strategy that can succeed over the long term.

Reports
July 2019

Equipping Immigrant Selection Systems for a Changing World of Work (Transatlantic Council Statement)

As technological developments—from automation to artificial intelligence and machine learning—reshape the world of work, governments face the challenge of updating how they attract, select, and retain economic-stream immigrants. This report, concluding a series on building migration systems for a new age of economic competitiveness, lays out the key considerations for "future-proofing" immigrant selection systems.

Commentaries
July 2019

As the Trump Administration Seeks to Remove Families, Due-Process Questions over Rocket Dockets Abound

The U.S. government is operating accelerated dockets to handle the rising number of cases of families in immigration court. While it is essential to have timely, fair case processing and removal of those who have truly had their day in court and been found to be removable, using “rocket” dockets to speed up proceedings only heightens the breakdowns that are a recurring feature of the court system on its best day, as this commentary explains.

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