Asylum Seekers

Asylum seekers ask for protection after arriving in the host country, unlike refugees who are granted protected status outside of the host country. While the definition of asylum seeker varies from nation to nation, in most places, the difference between refugee and asylee is the place where the individual asks for protection. The research here examines the particular issues surrounding asylum seekers, who may or may not fulfill the strict criteria laid down by the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Recent Activity

Reports February 2024 Outmatched: The U.S. Asylum System Faces Record Demands By Kathleen Bush-Joseph	Multimedia January 24, 2024 Are the Pacific’s Climate Migration Experiments a Preview for the World?
Reports January 2024 Migration at the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Challenge Decades in the Making By Alan D. Bersin, Nate Bruggeman and Ben Rohrbaugh	Reports January 2024 Expanding Protection Options? Flexible Approaches to Status for Displaced Syrians, Venezuelans, and Ukrainians By Andrew Selee, Susan Fratzke, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Luisa Feline Freier
Articles January 19, 2024 Biden at the Three-Year Mark: The Most Active Immigration Presidency Yet Is Mired in Border Crisis Narrative By Muzaffar Chishti, Kathleen Bush-Joseph, and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh	Reports January 2024 Shifting Realities at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Immigration Enforcement and Control in a Fast-Evolving Landscape By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh and Doris Meissner
Reports January 2024 Confronting Compassion Fatigue: Understanding the Arc of Public Support for Displaced Populations in Turkey, Colombia, and Europe By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, M. Murat Erdoğan and Lucía Salgado	Commentaries December 2023 One Phase Closes for the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Now Another Begins By Hanne Beirens and Camille Le Coz

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Reports November 2023 The Unmet Potential of Community Consultations in U.S. Refugee Resettlement By Lillie Hinkle	Reports November 2023 Immigration and Integration in the Ever More Diverse Houston Area By Valerie Lacarte, Michael Fix and Jeanne Batalova
Reports July 2023 At the Breaking Point: Rethinking the U.S. Immigration Court System By Muzaffar Chishti, Doris Meissner, Stephen Yale-Loehr, Kathleen Bush-Joseph and Christopher Levesque	Reports June 2023 Migration Narratives in Northern Central America: How Competing Stories Shape Policy and Public Opinion in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, Alejandra Lopez and Alejandro Vélez Salas
Reports May 2023 Apuesta por la regularidad migratoria: Respuestas de América Latina y el Caribe frente a la crisis del desplazamiento venezolano By Luciana Gandini and Andrew Selee	Reports May 2023 Betting on Legality: Latin American and Caribbean Responses to the Venezuelan Displacement Crisis By Luciana Gandini and Andrew Selee
Reports April 2023 A Path to Meeting the Medical and Mental Health Needs of Unaccompanied Children in U.S. Communities By Jonathan Beier and Karla Fredricks	Reports March 2023 Migration, Integration, and Diaspora Engagement in the Caribbean: A Policy Review By Valerie Lacarte, Jordi Amaral, Diego Chaves-González, Ana María Sáiz and Jeremy Harris

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A member of the Texas National Guard faces migrants in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Policy Beat

February 28, 2024

Standoff at Eagle Pass: A High-Stakes U.S. Border Enforcement Showdown Comes to a Small Texas Park

Rising tensions between Texas and the federal government have sparked fears of a constitutional crisis after the state deployed its National Guard to prevent the U.S. Border Patrol from conducting operations in a city park in Eagle Pass, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott saying the “invasion” of migrants triggered the need for action. This article provides an overview of the standoff and the larger context of current and past state-federal tensions over immigration enforcement.

President Joe Biden signs an executive order.

Policy Beat

January 19, 2024

Biden at the Three-Year Mark: The Most Active Immigration Presidency Yet Is Mired in Border Crisis Narrative

In three years, President Joe Biden has surpassed the number of immigration-focused executive actions taken by the Trump administration throughout its entire four-year term, making his the most active U.S. presidency ever on immigration. Yet the Biden administration has been repeatedly accused of inaction at the U.S.-Mexico border, where record levels of migrant encounters have occurred. This article reviews the Biden track record on immigration.

Feature

December 6, 2023

Often Shut Out of the Financial System, Refugees and Other Migrants Face Economic Integration Challenges

Credit cards, bank accounts, and other financial services are often critical in order to fully participate in the modern world. Yet many refugees and other forced migrants have trouble obtaining these seemingly simple tools, preventing them from full integration. This article outlines humanitarian migrants’ needs for financial services and the barriers that can arise.

Profile

November 1, 2023

The World’s Leading Refugee Host, Turkey Has a Complex Migration History

Turkey is home to the world’s largest refugee population, a fact that has been a source of pride, a geopolitical tool, and a logistical challenge. This article shows how the millions of Syrians who have arrived since 2011 comprise just one aspect of Turkey’s rich and complex migration history. The country has been a significant host, a transit point for individuals heading to Europe, and a source of migrant laborers.

The U.S. Coast Guard interdicts a vessel with Cuban migrants.

Policy Beat

October 25, 2023

Can the Biden Immigration Playbook Be Effective for Managing Arrivals via Sea?

Amid the highest Caribbean maritime migration levels in a generation, the Biden administration is relying on a carrot-and-stick strategy it honed amid record unauthorized migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. The approach, combining limits on asylum, expanded legal pathways, and international enforcement partnerships, could be increasingly important if maritime migration rises, as this article explains.

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Video

September 18, 2023

20th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

The 20th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, organized by MPI, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center, features fresh, thoughtful policy and legal analysis, and discussion of some of the top immigration issues by leading government officials, attorneys, researchers, advocates, and other experts.

Video, Audio

September 14, 2023

Strengthening Refugee Engagement in Community Sponsorship Programs

Speakers, including a resettled refugee, examine the challenges that hinder refugee participation in sponsorship program design and operation and explore meaningful ways, tools, and mechanisms for effectively expanding refugees’ role in current and future programs. They also discuss innovative initiatives that are already making strides in refugee involvement.

Video

July 20, 2023

Straining under the Backlog: Fixing a U.S. Immigration Court System in Crisis

As the U.S. immigration court system struggles with record case backlogs, decisions take years, immigration enforcement is delayed, and wait times incentivize unauthorized arrivals. This discussion examines the factors that have driven the system to the point of crisis and possible fixes.

Expert Q&A, Audio

July 12, 2023

Climate Migration 101

Climate migration sounds simple. It is not. MPI’s Lawrence Huang answers some of the most common questions around one of the least understood dynamics in human movement.

Expert Q&A, Audio

June 27, 2023

A Mixed Welcome: Haitian Migration within the Caribbean

MPI Senior Policy Analyst Valerie Lacarte speaks with experts Bridget Wooding and Louby George about migration of Haitians to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Recent Activity

Reports

April 2023

A Path to Meeting the Medical and Mental Health Needs of Unaccompanied Children in U.S. Communities

As the number of unaccompanied children entering U.S. communities has increased, many have faced barriers to accessing critical medical and mental health services. This report explores common barriers to care, promising practices for overcoming them, and strategies for strengthening services. It draws on interviews and focus groups with clinicians, social workers, and others working with this population as well as one-time unaccompanied children themselves.

Expert Q&A, Audio

April 15, 2023

Are Orderly Borders Possible in an Era of Rising Climate Migration?

When large numbers of asylum seekers and other migrants arrive at the borders of Western countries without prior authorization to enter, they are often treated as “spontaneous” arrivals. But migration is almost never truly spontaneous. Our podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration speaks with David Leblang, a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Virginia, who discusses how climate change fits into the migration calculus.

Video, Audio, Webinars

April 11, 2023

Meeting Global Skills and Talent Needs in Changing Labor Markets

Marking the launch of MPI’s Global Skills and Talent Initiative, this webcast features senior policymakers and other experts discussing the extent to which labor market needs should shape future immigration policy decisions, and how countries are adjusting—and could adjust—their immigration systems to meet human capital and competitiveness needs.

Articles

April 11, 2023

El Cambio de los Patrones y Políticas Migratorios en las Américas

Los países de América Latina y el Caribe están siendo transformados por crisis políticas y económicas, nuevos acuerdos de libre circulación y otras tendencias. La cantidad de inmigrantes que viven en la región casi se ha duplicado desde 2010, un cambio increíble en un corto período de tiempo. Este artículo da sentido a una profunda transición en curso en el hemisferio occidental.

Articles

April 11, 2023

In a Dramatic Shift, the Americas Have Become a Leading Migration Destination

Political and economic crises, new free-movement arrangements, and other trends are transforming countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, a region once known primarily for its emigration. The number of immigrants living in the region has nearly doubled since 2010, an incredible change in a short period of time. This article makes sense of a profound transition underway in the Western Hemisphere.

Articles

April 18, 2023

A Pragmatic Bet: The Evolution of Spain’s Immigration System

Historically a country of emigration, Spain rapidly transitioned to become one of Europe’s major immigration destinations in just a few years. Remarkably, this evolution occurred with minimal political backlash, even as the country suffered through a crippling economic and labor crisis. This country profile examines the trends and policies that led to this astonishing development.

Articles

March 30, 2023

Federal Judges Step into the Void to Set U.S. Immigration Policy

Virtually all major U.S. immigration policy reforms have faced lawsuits in recent years, giving federal judges wide latitude to shape national policy. The situation, which began during the Obama administration and has escalated, is a byproduct of congressional inaction and the emergence of immigration as a political wedge issue. This article tracks the trend, which has added new volatility to the immigration system, and places it in context.

Articles

March 21, 2023

Can Czechia Capitalize on High-Skilled Immigration amid Influx of Ukrainians?

High-skilled immigration represents a potential major benefit to Czechia, which has undergone rapid economic growth since the transition from communism. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new Ukrainians, many of whom are well educated, marks a moment for the country to re-evaluate its integration policies, as this article details.

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