Immigration Policy & Law

Immigration legislative and administrative policies, legal statutes and court decisions, and regulations collectively shape nations' immigration systems—from visa allotments and immigrant-selection mechanisms to immigrant integration programs, border controls, and more. As international migration has increased in size and spread and as a number of nations are more flexibly adjusting their immigration systems, the research offered here examines the many permutations of immigration policy and law, often with a comparative lens.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs August 2018 Deciding Which Road to Take: Insights into How Migrants and Refugees in Greece Plan Onward Movement By Katie Kuschminder	Articles August 22, 2018 Once Relatively Obscure, ICE Becomes a Lightning Rod in Immigration Debate By Muzaffar Chishti and Jessica Bolter
Articles August 15, 2018 Connecting Across Nationalities: Inter-Ethnic Relationships in a Kuwaiti Workplace By Batul K. Sadliwala	Reports August 2018 Shifting Tides: Radical-Right Populism and Immigration Policy in Europe and the United States By Martin A. Schain
Articles July 25, 2018 For Vulnerable Immigrant Children, A Longstanding Path to Protection Narrows By Austin Rose	Reports July 2018 U.S. Immigration Policy under Trump: Deep Changes and Lasting Impacts By Sarah Pierce, Jessica Bolter and Andrew Selee
Articles July 18, 2018 A South American Migration Crisis: Venezuelan Outflows Test Neighbors' Hospitality By Luisa Feline Freier and Nicolas Parent	Multimedia July 12, 2018 Cambios en el Panorama de Control Migratorio Interno Durante la Administración Trump

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Reports April 2008 Delivering Citizenship (Transatlantic Council Statement) By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Annette Heuser and Hans Martens	Fact Sheets February 2008 Behind the Naturalization Backlog: Causes, Context and Concerns By Claire Bergeron
Fact Sheets December 2007 Europe's Disappearing Internal Borders By Hiroyuki Tanaka	Reports December 2007 Testing the Limits: A Framework for Assessing the Legality of State and Local Immigration Measures By Cristina Rodríguez , Muzaffar Chishti and Kimberly Nortman
Reports October 2007 Room for Progress: Reinventing Euro-Atlantic Borders for a New Strategic Environment By Deborah W. Meyers, Rey Koslowski and Susan Ginsburg	Reports September 2007 Gaining from Migration: Towards a New Mobility System By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Gregory A. Maniatis
Policy Briefs September 2007 Pathways to Success for the Children of Immigrants By Maurice Crul	Policy Briefs September 2007 Language Policies and Practices for Helping Immigrants and Second-Generation Students Succeed By Gayle Christensen and Petra Stanat

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Feature

September 1, 2005

Solving the Unauthorized Migrant Problem: Proposed Legislation in the U.S.

In the most recent session of Congress, four legislative proposals addressing unauthorized immigration and general immigration reform have been introduced. MPI's Eliot Turner and Marc R. Rosenblum compare their provisions for enforcement, employer sanctions, legalization, and guest worker programs.

Feature

September 1, 2005

Regularizing Immigrants in Spain: A New Approach

Spain’s latest regularization program, unlike in the past, is part of a more comprehensive approach to combating illegal immigration and employment. Joaquín Arango of Complutense University of Madrid and Maia Jachimowicz outline the program and provide some preliminary results.

Feature

September 1, 2005

Why Countries Continue to Consider Regularization

Over the past 25 years, regularization programs have become more common. Amanda Levinson explains their challenges, their outcomes, and why governments choose such programs.

Feature

April 1, 2005

Domestic Workers: Little Protection for the Underpaid

An ILO study of Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates highlights the special risks of domestic work for women. Gloria Moreno-Fontes Chammartin discusses the findings and implications.

Feature

March 1, 2005

Human Rights Strengthen Migration Policy Framework

Monette Zard of the International Council on Human Rights Policy presents human rights as a tool for empowering migrants, reframing migration debates, and holding states accountable.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs

August 2018

Deciding Which Road to Take: Insights into How Migrants and Refugees in Greece Plan Onward Movement

EU policy debates about moving asylum seekers from overburdened frontline countries, such as Greece and Italy, to other Member States rarely consider how migrants form and act on preferences for certain destinations—and how difficult it may be to change these views. This issue brief explores decision-making among migrants in Greece, including how living conditions, jobs, and legal status factor in.

Articles

August 22, 2018

Once Relatively Obscure, ICE Becomes a Lightning Rod in Immigration Debate

With the #AbolishICE movement catching fire among some on the left, critics of the Trump administration's immigration policies have seized on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as their main target—even condemning it for actions taken by other agencies. This article explores the evolution of ICE and resistance to it, as well as actions taken by the agency itself that have made its mission even more controversial.

Articles

August 15, 2018

Connecting Across Nationalities: Inter-Ethnic Relationships in a Kuwaiti Workplace

In Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, migrants make up a significant share of the private-sector workforce. While mainstream narratives commonly focus on the exploitation and abuse some of these migrant workers experience, their lives and relationships with the native born are much more complex and less unequal than is often perceived, as this article explores.

Reports

August 2018

Shifting Tides: Radical-Right Populism and Immigration Policy in Europe and the United States

Even as populist radical-right parties have experienced mixed electoral success, their ideas have gained traction in Europe and the United States. This report analyzes the economic, political, and social factors behind the rise in support for the radical-right agenda, and the impact of this trend on immigration policymaking and the broader political landscape on both sides of the Atlantic.

Articles

July 25, 2018

For Vulnerable Immigrant Children, A Longstanding Path to Protection Narrows

Since fiscal year 2010, more than 70,000 immigrant children have applied for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status, a pathway to a green card for youth who have been abused or neglected by their parents. Based on interviews with SIJ applicants, judges, and attorneys, this article provides an overview of the SIJ program and identifies limitations on access.

Reports

July 2018

U.S. Immigration Policy under Trump: Deep Changes and Lasting Impacts

President Trump has made reshaping the U.S. immigration system a top priority. Yet the fragmented nature of policy-making in the United States—with power split between branches and levels of government—has made it difficult to pursue some of his most ambitious proposals. This report explores the evolution of migration policy under Trump, and what these changes may mean in the long run.

Articles

July 18, 2018

A South American Migration Crisis: Venezuelan Outflows Test Neighbors' Hospitality

The deepening of Venezuela's social, economic, and political implosion has resulted in the fastest movement of people across borders in Latin American history. Neighboring countries have responded with a patchwork of policy measures, though the scale and growing diversity of Venezuelan arrivals have challenged regional actors, as this article explores.

Video, Audio, Webinars

July 12, 2018

Cambios en el Panorama de Control Migratorio Interno Durante la Administración Trump

Experts on this Spanish language webinar examine the operation of today’s interior immigration enforcement system and how state and local governments, civil society, and consulates are responding.

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