Border Enforcement

Border enforcement is more than its widely perceived role of border guards patrolling external boundaries and inspectors admitting traffic through ports of entry. While those are key components, border enforcement represents a more holistic function, integrating resources and information at and between all ports of entry—whether air, land, or sea—with consular operations abroad and more. The research presented here examines these varied facets.

Recent Activity

Articles April 11, 2024 South American Immigrants in the United States By Julian Montalvo and Jeanne Batalova	Articles March 27, 2024 The Limits of the Go-It-Alone Approach: U.S. Migration Management Increasingly Requires Other Countries’ Cooperation By Muzaffar Chishti and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh
Articles March 13, 2024 Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States By Jeanne Batalova	Policy Briefs March 2024 Lessons from COVID-19: Managing Borders in the Next Global Public-Health Crisis By Meghan Benton and Lawrence Huang
Reports March 2024 Diverging Paths: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in the Middle East and North Africa By Samuel Davidoff-Gore	Reports March 2024 Converging Crises: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in South America By Luisa Feline Freier, Andrea Kvietok and Leon Lucar Oba
Reports March 2024 Coordination Breakdown: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in Europe By Frey Lindsay	Articles February 28, 2024 Standoff at Eagle Pass: A High-Stakes U.S. Border Enforcement Showdown Comes to a Small Texas Park By Muzaffar Chishti and Julia Gelatt

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Policy Briefs March 2024 Lessons from COVID-19: Managing Borders in the Next Global Public-Health Crisis By Meghan Benton and Lawrence Huang	Reports March 2024 Diverging Paths: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in the Middle East and North Africa By Samuel Davidoff-Gore
Reports March 2024 Converging Crises: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in South America By Luisa Feline Freier, Andrea Kvietok and Leon Lucar Oba	Reports March 2024 Coordination Breakdown: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in Europe By Frey Lindsay
Reports February 2024 Outmatched: The U.S. Asylum System Faces Record Demands By Kathleen Bush-Joseph	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 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	Policy Briefs December 2023 What Role Could Digital Technologies Play in the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum? By Lucía Salgado and Hanne Beirens

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Spotlight

April 11, 2024

South American Immigrants in the United States

The South American immigrant population in the United States has grown at a faster rate than that of the overall foreign-born population, amid crises in Venezuela, Colombia, and elsewhere. Yet South Americans still account for only about one in ten U.S. immigrants. While they mirror the overall U.S. immigrant population in several demographic characteristics, there are some notable differences, as this article details.

Policy Beat

March 27, 2024

The Limits of the Go-It-Alone Approach: U.S. Migration Management Increasingly Requires Other Countries’ Cooperation

The U.S. immigration enforcement system increasingly depends on other countries to help halt irregular movements through the Americas and accept the return of unauthorized migrants. Foreign governments play a crucial and yet underappreciated role in migration management, and can either aid or frustrate U.S. border-control aims, as this article explores.

A naturalization ceremony at the White House.

Spotlight

March 13, 2024

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

Immigration touches on many facets of life in the United States. Get the facts with this useful resource, which compiles in one place answers to some of the most often-asked questions about immigration and immigrants in the United States now and historically. This article contains essential data on the immigrant population, immigration levels, trends in immigration enforcement, and much more.

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.

Feature

February 8, 2024

South Asia’s Tibetan Refugee Community Is Shrinking, Imperiling Its Long-Term Future

The number of Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal, and Bhutan has been on a steady decline since the mid-2000s, posing a threat to the future of an exile community that has developed a robust governance, cultural, educational, and religious structure. While the Tibetan government-in-exile has become a model for displaced communities, a series of factors have contributed to the shrinking population in South Asia, as this article describes.

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Explainers

April 2019

Explainer: Illegal Immigration in the United States

How has the size of the unauthorized population in the United States changed over time? How is illegal immigration changing, and where do unauthorized immigrants come from? This explainer answers basic questions about illegal immigration, the changing patterns from Mexico, and more.

Expert Q&A, Audio

October 27, 2023

Is Climate Migration a Homeland Security Threat?

Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff talks about the security implications of climate change and migration in this episode of the podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration.

2023 Immigration Law and Policy Conference

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.

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.

Expert Q&A, Audio

May 18, 2023

The U.S.-Mexico Border Becomes More High-Tech

MPI President Andrew Selee and two colleagues who joined him at the U.S.-Mexico border to examine increasingly sophisticated U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations discuss the evolution of policies and procedures to address asylum seekers and other migrants arriving at official ports of entry.

Expert Q&A, Audio

April 24, 2023

A Complex Picture: Diversifying Migration Flows & Policies at the U.S.-Mexico Border

How are U.S. border operations and policies evolving at the U.S.-Mexico border to address rising and diversifying flows? And what is driving increasing immigration from across Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond? MPI President Andrew Selee speaks with two colleagues who traveled from one end of the nearly 2,000-mile boundary to the other, touring U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities and interviewing U.S. and Mexican officials, NGO leaders, and others.

Recent Activity

Articles

February 8, 2024

South Asia’s Tibetan Refugee Community Is Shrinking, Imperiling Its Long-Term Future

Reports

February 2024

Outmatched: The U.S. Asylum System Faces Record Demands

The U.S. humanitarian protection system, known for its long history of assisting those in need, has come under incredible pressure in recent years. The asylum adjudications system, which is under-resourced, is struggling to keep up with record asylum seeker arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border. This report examines the state of the asylum system, including changes under the Biden administration and potential lessons for other countries.

Reports

January 2024

Migration at the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Challenge Decades in the Making

Unauthorized migration at the U.S.-Mexico border has been a high-profile and politically divisive issue for decades. But as the nature of migration at the border has changed profoundly, U.S. policy responses have struggled to keep up. This report explores the changing nature of migration flows and migration policy at the border from the early 1990s until today, highlighting key lessons for contemporary policy-making.

Articles

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.

Reports

January 2024

Shifting Realities at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Immigration Enforcement and Control in a Fast-Evolving Landscape

All eyes are on the U.S.-Mexico border, where shifting migration trends and record migrant arrivals have stretched the U.S. border management system beyond its capabilities. As the Biden administration continues to implement its new regime of incentives for orderly arrivals and disincentives for unauthorized crossings, this report analyzes the rapidly changing policy and migration realities and outlines recommendations for a more effective, durable system of border control.

Commentaries

December 2023

One Phase Closes for the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Now Another Begins

The New Pact on Migration and Asylum agreed in December 2023 by EU Member States and the European Parliament after lengthy negotiation will, without a doubt, go down in history as a signal political accomplishment. But will it result in better management of migration and asylum systems in a complex era? The outcome will turn on implementation and communication, this MPI Europe commentary explains.

Policy Briefs

December 2023

What Role Could Digital Technologies Play in the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum?

With EU migration systems under strain, many observers have high hopes that the New Pact on Migration and Asylum will be able to help Europe address pressing challenges. This policy brief explores how digital technologies could support the implementation of the pact, should it be approved, as well as areas where caution is merited.

Commentaries

November 2023

The U.S.-Mexico Border Problem Will Not Be “Solved” Until All Parts of the Border Enforcement System Are Properly Resourced

The $13.6 billion border emergency supplemental spending bill the Biden administration is seeking lays out the elements for resourcing immigration functions to full capacity across the entire border enforcement system. Without resourcing the system across all its parts, including adjudications and management, no administration, present or future, will be able to effectively manage spontaneous border arrivals, this commentary argues.

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