Immigrant Integration

Immigrant integration is the process of economic mobility and social inclusion for newcomers and their children. As such, integration touches upon the institutions and mechanisms that promote development and growth within society, including early childhood care; elementary, postsecondary, and adult education systems; workforce development; health care; provision of government services to communities with linguistic diversity; and more. Successful integration builds communities that are stronger economically and more inclusive socially and culturally.

Recent Activity

Commentaries November 2022 Apprenticeship Programs Are a Promising Solution to Bring More Multilingual Workers into Early Childhood Field By Jacob Hofstetter, Alexis Fintland and Maki Park	Articles November 10, 2022 Millionaire Migration Rises and Heads to New Destinations By Elizabeth Shaw
Articles November 2, 2022 Living in Limbo: Displaced Ukrainians in Poland By Tamar Jacoby	Articles October 19, 2022 Spain’s Decentralized Immigration System Allows Local Integration Policies to Lead the Way By Jenna Mazza
Multimedia October 12, 2022 Ensuring Effective Language Access Services and Policies in Early Childhood Programs	Multimedia October 11, 2022 Migrant Integration: Learning from What Works in Times of Uncertainty
Articles October 13, 2022 Mexican Immigrants in the United States By Raquel Rosenbloom and Jeanne Batalova	Fact Sheets October 2022 Dual Language Learners: Key Characteristics and Considerations for Early Childhood Programs By Ivana Tú Nhi Giang and Maki Park

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Reports November 2020 Managing the Pandemic and Its Aftermath: Economies, Jobs, and International Migration in the Age of COVID-19 By Demetrios G. Papademetriou	Reports November 2020 Immigration Data Matters By Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Michelle Mittelstadt
Policy Briefs October 2020 Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families through Home Visiting: Innovative State and Local Approaches By Caitlin Katsiaficas	Reports September 2020 Driving Migrant Inclusion through Social Innovation: Lessons for Cities in a Pandemic By Liam Patuzzi
Policy Briefs September 2020 Educating English Learners during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Ideas for States and School Districts By Julie Sugarman and Melissa Lazarin	Policy Briefs September 2020 Brexit on the Backburner: Citizens’ Rights and the Implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement in a Pandemic By Aliyyah Ahad and Monica Andriescu
Policy Briefs September 2020 Inmigrantes venezolanos, crimen y percepciones falsas: Un análisis de los datos en Colombia, Perú y Chile By Dany Bahar, Meagan Dooley and Andrew Selee	Policy Briefs September 2020 Venezuelan Migration, Crime, and Misperceptions: A Review of Data from Colombia, Peru, and Chile By Dany Bahar, Meagan Dooley and Andrew Selee

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Mother and daughter from Middle Eastern background

Spotlight

January 13, 2022

Middle Eastern and North African Immigrants in the United States

Migration from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to the United States doubled between 2000 and 2019, yet these immigrants represented less than 3 percent of the overall U.S. foreign-born population as of 2019. MENA immigrants are more likely than other immigrants to be English proficient, have a college degree, and work in management, business, science, and arts occupations.

A Dutch family at Ellis Island between 1915 and 1920.

Profile

January 6, 2022

Immigration Has Been a Defining, Often Contentious, Element Throughout U.S. History

As host to more immigrants than any other country, the United States has been shaped and reshaped by immigration over the centuries, with the issue at times becoming a flashpoint. This article covers the history of U.S. immigration and the major laws governing immigration, and provides a comprehensive overview of the present-day immigrant population.

New U.S. citizens take an oath during a naturalization ceremony.

Spotlight

November 10, 2021

Naturalized Citizens in the United States

More than half of all immigrants in the United States are naturalized citizens. The number of new naturalizations has fluctuated from year to year, hitting a decade-long low in fiscal year 2020, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising processing times. This article provides information on naturalized citizens in the United States, including historical trends and socioeconomic characteristics.

Merchants sell items on a busy street in San José, Costa Rica.

Feature

November 5, 2021

Costa Rica Has Welcoming Policies for Migrants, but Nicaraguans Face Subtle Barriers

Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled their country since 2018, amid repression and a renewed government crackdown. In neighboring Costa Rica, many migrants have encountered a robust system for protection and integration, yet they still face stigma and discrimination in their daily lives. This article explores this dynamic along one of Central America's most important migratory routes.

A woman stands onboard the U.S. Navy vessel on which she was born.

Spotlight

October 15, 2021

Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States

Vietnamese immigrants are among the largest foreign-born groups from Asia in the United States. The first significant arrivals came at the end of the Vietnam War; more recent immigrants from Vietnam have been more likely to come through family sponsorship programs. This article examines different dimensions of this immigrant population.

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Felipe Munoz at Migration Policy Institute Event

Video, Audio

September 27, 2019

The Colombian Response to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis: A Dialogue with Colombia’s Migration Czar

Felipe Muñoz, Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombian-Venezuelan Border, discusses how Colombia is coping with the influx of Venezuelan migrants, plans for future policy decisions surrounding this migration, and developments in regional and international cooperation.

Flickr SweetwaterISDCowen Early Childhood CenterNationalTeddyBearDay

Video, Audio

August 28, 2019

Effectively Serving Immigrant and Dual Language Learner Families through Home Visiting Programs

Marking a policy brief's release, this webinar explores the promise of home visiting services that support new parents alongside their infants and toddlers, plus strategies for improving how these programs work with immigrant and linguistically diverse families.

Video, Audio

August 20, 2019

Chronicling Migration in the 21st Century Through One Family’s Journey

Marking the launch of New York Times reporter Jason DeParle's book tracing the arc of migration and its impacts through the life of an extended family of Filipino migrants over a three-decade period, from Manila and through Dubai to the Houston area, this conversation with MPI's Andrew Selee and the World Bank's Dilip Ratha explores migration at both a global and very personal level.

Video, Audio

August 12, 2019

Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy: Building a Responsive, Effective Immigration System

This discussion marked the launch of MPI's Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy Initiative, which aims to generate a big-picture, evidence-driven vision of the role immigration should play in America’s future, as well as to build a bipartisan center so needed reforms can be enacted.

Video, Audio

May 17, 2019

"Merit-Based" Immigration: Designing Successful Selection Systems

With the U.S. administration calling for the United States to adopt a more “merit-based” immigrant selection system, this conversation focused on what policymakers should consider in designing—and managing—immigrant selection systems in a time of intense labor-market and demographic change.

Recent Activity

Video, Audio, Webinars

May 17, 2022

Making Social Cohesion Work for Everyone: What Can We Learn from Development Interventions on How to Promote Inclusion and Reduce Xenophobia?

Organized on the margins of the first International Migration Review Forum, this official side event looks at effective practices and programs to build socially cohesive and inclusive societies—including lessons from post-conflict settings on how to build intergroup trust. Discussants focus on successful development interventions and offer examples of why some promising ideas may have fallen short in practice.

Articles

May 18, 2022

Chile’s Welcoming Approach to Immigrants Cools as Numbers Rise

In the years since its return to democracy, Chile has emerged as a major immigration destination within South America. Yet recent large-scale migrant arrivals from Haiti and Venezuela have shaken the country’s politics and at times overwhelmed a decades-old immigration framework that critics contended was woefully out of date. New reforms could tighten immigration, but many questions remain. This country profile analyzes migration to Chile particularly since 1990.

Policy Briefs

May 2022

Leveraging Predeparture Counseling to Support Returning Migrants’ Sustainable Reintegration

As assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) programs proliferate in Europe, there is growing recognition that counseling migrants as they prepare to return to their countries of origin can play an important role in their longer-term reintegration. This policy brief assesses the gaps between counselors in Europe and organizations supporting migrants after return that will need to be overcome to maximize the benefits of predeparture counseling.

Articles

May 11, 2022

Sub-Saharan African Immigrants in the United States

The population of sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United States is relatively small, but it has grown substantially over the last four decades and is likely to continue to increase. This group of 2.1 million people is highly diverse, including individuals with a range of ethnic, linguistic, and other backgrounds, as this article explains.

Reports

May 2022

English Learner Testing during the Pandemic: An Early Readout and Look Ahead

In addition to upending daily life in the classroom, the pandemic has affected how states administer annual assessments to their students—disrupting a key means of collecting data on new or growing learning gaps that demand attention. This report explores how states have approached testing English Learners during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what 2020-21 assessment data can and cannot tell us.

Commentaries

May 2022

The Ukrainian Conflict Could Be a Tipping Point for Refugee Protection

Recent displacement crises—ranging from Syria, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Myanmar, South Sudan, to most recently Ukraine—have imposed huge stresses on the humanitarian protection regime. Yet individual countries and regional organizations have been innovating to meet the challenge and expand the options available for protection, in some cases bypassing beleaguered asylum systems. This commentary traces the rise of more ad hoc approaches.

Policy Briefs

May 2022

Cultural Competency Secrets to Success with Immigrant and Refugee Families: Spreading and Adapting 2Gen Working Practices

As the United States becomes more diverse, changes in the cultural makeup of communities can challenge longstanding practices in human services delivery. This brief explores strategies service providers can employ to build their understanding of and responsiveness to the cultures of the communities they serve, leading to better outcomes for immigrant and refugee families.

Policy Briefs

May 2022

Growing Language Skills with Immigrant and Refugee Families: Spreading and Adapting 2Gen Working Practices

Language barriers can hinder immigrant families’ access to services and make it challenging for immigrant parents to find family-sustaining jobs and actively participate in their children’s education. This brief explores approaches service providers are using to make their offerings more culturally and linguistically responsive, and to support language learning among children and their parents.

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