Migration Policy Institute
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A Comprehensive Approach to Refugee Protection

New Policy Research

Young Children of Black Immigrants in America: Changing Flows, Changing Faces
The US child population is rapidly changing and diversifying, in large part because of immigration. Today, nearly one in bufour US children under age 18 is the child of an immigrant. While research has focused on the largest of these groups, far less academic attention has been paid to the changing Black child population, with the children of Black immigrants representing an increasing share of the US Black child population. This interdisciplinary volume, with chapters by leading researchers, examines the health, well-being, school readiness, and academic achievement of children in Black immigrant families, most with parents from Africa and the Caribbean. The volume explores the migration and settlement experiences of Black immigrants to the United States, focusing on contextual factors such as family circumstances, parenting behaviors, social supports, and school climate that influence outcomes during early childhood and the elementary and middle-school years. Its findings hold important policy implications for education, health care, child care, early childhood development, immigrant integration, and refugee assistance.
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Asian Labour Migrants and Humanitarian Crises: Lessons From Libya
By Brian Kelly and Anita Jawadurovna Wadud
Often low-skilled and facing language and cultural barriers, migrants workers in conflict zones are generally more vulnerable than the native population, though are rarely the focus of attention by the media or international community. This brief examines the challenges and opportunities for state actors and international organizers assisting foreign workers caught in national conflicts, with the migration crisis of Libya’s 2011 civil war a model for amending the existing framework in regards to response, coordination, and how to address similar humanitarian situations in the future.
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By Donald M. Kerwin
While generous in many respects, the US refugee protection system has become less robust over the last two decades amid heightened security reviews, inadequate coordination between government and NGOs, and unresolved policy tensions between the goals of protecting the most vulnerable and of refugee integration. This report examines US legal and policy responses to those seeking protection in the United States and addresses the barriers, gaps, and opportunities that exist in the refugee protection regime.
Download Report | European Asylum Report
 

The Iraqi Refugee Crisis: The Need for Action
By Kelly O'Donnell and Kathleen Newland
Report, January 2008
As border restrictions both within and outside Iraq tighten and sectarian violence persists, the options for Iraq's estimated 4.5 million internally and externally displaced appear bleak. MPI's report on the Iraqi refugee crisis examines the situation in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as the response of the United States and select EU Member States.
Full Report | Press Release

Bridging Divides: The Role of Ethnic Community-Based Organizations in Refugee Integration
By Kathleen Newland, Hiroyuki Tanaka, and Laura Barker
Migration Policy Institute and the International Rescue Committee, June 2007

Almost 2.4 million refugees and asylees from at least 115 countries entered the United States between 1980 and 2006.  Despite declines in refugee admissions, the United States continues to resettle more refugees than any other country. This study examines how organizations founded by refugees are helping others who have escaped violence and persecution abroad adjust to life in the United States. 


Events
Discussion on the Situation of Colombian Refugees in Panama and Ecuador
Representatives from a November 2010 trip to the region — Shaina Aber, Associate Advocacy Director for Jesuit Refugee Service/USA and Melanie Nezer, Senior Director for US Policy and Advocacy at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society — present the findings from their trip, along with Andrea Lari, Regional Director at Refugees International. The event will be moderated by Kathleen Newland, Director of MPI’s Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs.
March 23, 2011
Watch Video | Listen to Event Audio
   
Potential Reforms to the US Refugee Resettlement Program
Breakfast briefing with Kate Brick, MPI Associate Policy Analyst; Robert Carey, Vice President of Resettlement and Migration Policy, International Rescue Committee; and Kathleen Newland, MPI Director of Refugee Policy and Migrants, Migration, and Development Programs.
July 16, 2010
Watch Video | Listen/Download Event Audio | Read Report
   
7th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference
The conference, co-sponsored by Georgetown Law, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the Migration Policy Institute, focused immigration and refugee law and policy. Panels included: Current Topics in Immigration Law and Policy; Reforming the U.S. Immigration Court System; Humanitarian Relief, Access to Protection, and U.S. Asylum Policies; and Enforcement of Immigration Law. Eric P. Schwartz, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of State spoke on US policy on international migration.
June 24, 2010
Georgetown University Law Center
View Video | Read Assistant Secretary Schwartz's remarks
   
  Discussion on Possible Solutions for Refugees and IDPs
Breakfast briefing with T. Alexander Aleinikoff, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees; Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President; and Kathleen Newland, MPI Director of the Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
9:00 am to 10:30 am
MPI Conference Room
1400 16th Street, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
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Discussion on the Situation of Refugees and IDPs in Sudan and Chad
A briefing by Stefano Severe, the UNHCR Representative in Chad, and Peter de Clercq, the UNHCR Representative in Sudan, on the latest developments and challenges concerning refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the region. Moderated by Kathleen Newland, Director of MPI's Refugee Policy Program.
April 20, 2010
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  The 30th Anniversary of the 1980 Refugee Act: What the Refugee Program's History Suggests for a Better Future
Briefing with Representative James McGovern, Third Congressional District of Massachusetts, Representative Anh "Joseph" Cao, Second Congressional District of Louisiana; António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); Kathleen Newland, Director, Refugee Policy Program, Migration Policy Institute; Kay Bellor, Vice President, US Programs, International Rescue Committee; and Tara Magner, Senior Counsel, Office of Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman, US Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
March 15, 2010
US Capitol Building, Room HC-6, Washington, DC

For details and video/audio of events, click here.


Policy Work


MPI has developed substantial expertise relating to the law and practice of protecting refugees and internally displaced people in areas of conflict as well as in the industrialized countries.

The program on refugee protection and humanitarian assistance works to assess emerging issues and controversies, to promote secure solutions, and to enlarge the international consensus on provision of protection and assistance. It has also taken a leading role in the debate over effective institutional arrangements for comprehensive protection.

In the next few years, MPI will continue to focus on emergencies within the developing world through to understand not only the nature of these conflicts, but also looking at failed refugee policies, economic issues, and the limited opportunities for protection through third country resettlement and asylum.

Another important element of MPI's ongoing protection work is analyzing how developed states can assist in building the capacity to protect refugees and IDPs in regions of origin, while still meeting their obligations to asylum seekers in their own territories.

Additionally, MPI will continue its effort to link research, practice, and policy. A focus will continue to be the positive development of the protection regime to provide more secure protection for internally displaced people (IDPs) and for mass arrivals of people fleeing armed conflict. Finally, MPI will continue to work on strengthening the institutional framework for protection of refugees and IDPs.

More on MPI's policy research....


  

 

 

Experts

Kathleen Newland
Director, Refugee Protection Policy Program


Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Recent Events

A Bleak Winter: Providing Needed Aid to Those Fleeing Conflict in Syria
This joint Migration Policy Institute and International Rescue Committee (IRC) event offers insights from a delegation that visited Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey in November 2012. Commenting on findings from an IRC report on the Syrian humanitarian crisis are: George Rupp, President and Chief Executive Officer, IRC; Mort Abramowitz, former US Ambassador to Turkey, and IRC Overseer; and Fadi Al Khankan, Chair of the Humanitarian Aid Committee, Syrian Expatriates Organization. Kathleen Newland, Director of MPI’s Refugee Policy program, moderated the event.
January 14, 2013
Listen to Event Audio  |  Watch Event Video

9th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference
The conference features discussion on current immigration policy issues by senior officials from US Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, immigration law experts, state officials, and immigration advocates. Topics covered include: analysis of the role of states and the federal government in immigration law; immigration policy and the 2012 campaigns; the implementation of the Administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and other legal service provision issues; and US policy on protection for refugees and asylees.
October 1, 2012

2012 E Pluribus Unum Prizes
The winners of the Migration Policy Institute's 2012 E Pluribus Unum Prizes, honoring exceptional immigrant integration initiatives in the United States, discussed their work during a plenary luncheon on September 24, 2012 at the National Immigrant Integration Conference held in Baltimore, MD. During a Q&A with MPI’s Michael Fix, leaders with ACCESS (the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services), Building Skills Partnership, Californians Together, and Citi Community Development discussed key aspects of their work. At discussion's end, the winners received their E Pluribus Unum Prizes from Brad Davidson, a trustee of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, which generously funds the prizes program.
Listen to Audio | Watch Video | More Information

Unaccompanied Minors and Their Journey through the US Immigration System
A discussion with Michelle Brané, Director of the Detention and Asylum program, Women's Refugee Commission; Jessica Jones, Equal Justice Works Fellow, Detention and Asylum Program, Women's Refugee Commission; Wendy Young, Executive Director of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND); and Kathleen Newland, Director of the MPI Refugee Policy program.
July 30, 2012

How UNHCR Is Facing a World of New Protection Challenges
Volker Türk, UNHCR Director of International Protection, discusses the current global challenges of protecting refugees with Kathleen Newland, MPI Co-Founder and Director of the Refugee Policy and Migrants, Migration, and Development Programs.
May 15, 2012
Listen to Podcast  |  Watch Video


Browse the New MPI Bookstore

Recently redesigned for easier navigation through its varied offerings, the MPI Bookstore presents a selection of publications – from topics such as migrants and the recession, migration management, national security, refugee protection, and immigrant integration. As well as being in-depth, nonpartisan reading, the books are excellent material for academic use, staff trainings, strategic planning, program evaluation, board and donor education, advocacy efforts, and other migration-related work.

Visit the bookstore here.

Improving the Governance of International Migration
Contemporary states are ambivalent about the global governance of migration: They desire more of it because they know they cannot reach their goals by acting alone, but they fear the necessary compromise on terms they may not be able to control and regarding an issue that is politically charged. Currently, there is no formal, coherent, multilateral institutional framework governing the global flow of migrants. While most actors agree that greater international cooperation on migration is needed, there has been no persuasive analysis of what form this would take or of what greater global cooperation would aim to achieve. The purpose of this book, the Transatlantic Council on Migration's fifth volume, is to fill this analytical gap by focusing on a set of fundamental questions: What are the key steps to building a better, more cooperative system of governance? What are the goals that can be achieved through greater international cooperation? And, most fundamentally, who (or what) is to be governed?
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Migration Information Source

Refugees and Asylees in the United States
August 23 In 2010, the United States granted humanitarian protection to nearly 95,000 immigrants, including some 73,000 refugees and 21,000 asylum seekers. MPI's Monica Li and Jeanne Batalova take a detailed look at the most recent refugee and asylum data in the United States.

Refugee Resettlement in Metropolitan America
Since 1983, the United States has resettled more than 1.6 million refugees.
In a March 2007 Source article, Audrey Singer and Jill H. Wilson of The Brookings Institution present the first report on US metropolitan destinations, where the vast majority of refugees were placed between 1983 and 2004.

Haitian Immigrants in the United States
The 535,000 Haitian immigrants residing in the United States in 2008 accounted for 1.4 percent of all US immigrants and the fourth-largest immigrant group from the Caribbean. MPI's Aaron Terrazas examines their socioeconomic characteristics, where they live, and the size of the Haitian-born unauthorized population.

More Source articles on refugee protection...