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.

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Multimedia January 16, 2019 Promising Strategies for Reintegration of Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America	Reports January 2019 Communicating Strategically about Immigrant Integration: Policymaker Perspectives By Aliyyah Ahad and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
Commentaries January 2019 Too Little, Too Late? Contingency Planning for UK Nationals in Case of a No-Deal Brexit By Meghan Benton and Aliyyah Ahad	Reports January 2019 Doing More with Less: A New Toolkit for Integration Policy By Meghan Benton and Alexandra Embiricos
Reports January 2019 Sustainable Reintegration: Strategies to Support Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, Luis Argueta and Randy Capps	Articles December 21, 2018 As Venezuelan Crisis Deepens, South America Braces for More Arrivals and Indefinite Stays By Sara Staedicke
Reports December 2018 Promoting Refugee Integration in Challenging Times: The Potential of Two-Generation Strategies By Mark Greenberg, Julia Gelatt, Jessica Bolter, Essey Workie and Isabelle Charo	Articles December 11, 2018 Threat of Hard Brexit Looms as Exit Date Nears By Alessandro Regio and Lauren Shaw

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Reports October 2009 Immigrating from Facts to Values: Political Rhetoric in the U.S. Immigration Debate By Drew Westen	Reports October 2009 The Evolution of German Media Coverage of Migration By Gualtiero Zambonini
Reports October 2009 Political Rhetoric in the Netherlands: Reframing Crises in the Media By Maarten Hajer and Wytske Versteeg	Reports October 2009 Future Immigration Patterns and Policies in the United Kingdom By Will Somerville
Reports October 2009 The Future of Migration and Integration Policy in Germany By Rita Süssmuth	Reports October 2009 Memo to President Obama Regarding Immigration Policy By Frank Sharry
Reports October 2009 The Media and Migration in the United Kingdom, 1999 to 2009 By Terry Threadgold	Reports October 2009 British Attitudes to Immigration in the 21 st Century By Ben Page

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Policy Beat

February 13, 2014

Republican Congressional Leaders Shelve Immigration Reform for 2014

The small window for enactment of a major U.S. immigration overhaul during 2014 seems to have closed. A trial balloon testing House Republicans’ willingness to proceed this year was quickly floated and dropped. Amid a focus on politics and timing, less noted was the reality that for the first time, House Republican leaders have affirmed support for a policy that would move the party closer to compromise over the most vexing question holding up immigration reform: what to do with the nation’s unauthorized immigrants.

Policy Beat

January 9, 2014

U.S. Immigration Reform Didn't Happen in 2013; Will 2014 Be the Year?

While some argue that the clock has run out on immigration reform in the 113th Congress, which runs through 2014, others counter that the finish line remains in sight.

Spotlight

October 24, 2013

Naturalization Trends in the United States

About 757,000 immigrants took U.S. citizenship in 2012, a 9 percent increase from the year before. As of 2012, 46 percent of the nation’s 40.8 million immigrants were naturalized Americans. This article examines the latest naturalization data available for the United States, including historical trends, data by country of origin and state of residence, as well as socioeconomic characteristics of the 18.7 million naturalized U.S. citizens residing in the United States in 2012.

Feature

September 18, 2013

Labor Migration in the United Arab Emirates: Challenges and Responses

The United Arab Emirates has the fifth-largest international migrant stock in the world, with 7.8 million migrants out of a total population of 9.2 million. Heavily reliant on foreign labor to sustain economic growth, the UAE government in 1971 introduced a temporary guest worker program. This article examines the economic, social, and political challenges and implications of the program for the government, Emirati nationals, and migrant workers in the UAE.

Feature

October 9, 2012

Immigration Federalism: Which Policy Prevails?

This article dissects the current patchwork of overlapping and potentially conflicting authorities for immigration enforcement and policymaking in the United States, based on unique, country-wide surveys and city case studies.

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Fact Sheets

December 2022

The Skills and Economic Outcomes of Immigrant and U.S.-Born College Graduates

College-educated immigrants are more likely to have advanced degrees than their U.S.-born peers with college degrees. But their educational levels have not always translated into similar occupational gains: They are more likely to be overeducated for their positions. Drawing on PIAAC data, this fact sheet sketches educational characteristics, monthly earnings, skill underutilization, and job quality for immigrant and U.S.-born college graduates alike.

Policy Briefs

December 2022

Four Strategies to Improve Community Services for Unaccompanied Children in the United States

For unaccompanied children leaving federal custody to live with parents or other sponsors, the transition into U.S. communities can be a difficult one. And although a patchwork of services exist to help these children and to address medical, mental health, and other needs, their capacity varies widely by location. This issue brief explores promising practices for improving these critical forms of support.

Articles

December 7, 2022

Indian Immigrants in the United States

Significant immigration from India to the United States began only after 1965, when the United States dropped national-origin quotas that favored Europeans. Today, Indians make up the nation's second largest foreign-born group. On average, they tend to be very well educated: 80 percent have a college degree and nearly half hold a graduate or professional degree. This article offers a useful sociodemographic profile of the Indian population.

Articles

November 30, 2022

After a Slump, Legal Immigration to the United States Is Returning to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Legal immigration to the United States fell to its lowest level in years during the COVID-19 pandemic, but preliminary data suggest it is returning to previous levels, belying predictions that the public-health crisis had allowed the Trump administration to make lasting, deep cuts. Yet the patterns have changed and persistent case processing backlogs could spell long-term problems, as this article explores.

Policy Briefs

November 2022

Reassessing Recruitment Costs in a Changing World of Labor Migration

Migrant workers can pay a range of costs when they are recruited and relocate for jobs abroad, accruing significant debt. While many countries, international organizations, and other stakeholders have sought to reduce or eliminate recruitment costs, the pandemic has exacerbated and added to these expenses. This policy brief explores how the costs migrant workers face have changed, and what these developments mean for efforts to promote fair and ethical recruitment.

Commentaries

November 2022

Apprenticeship Programs Are a Promising Solution to Bring More Multilingual Workers into Early Childhood Field

Shortages of workers continue to plague early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems across the United States. With the field already struggling to effectively serve young children in families that speak languages other than English, apprenticeship programs offer a promising solution to bring more—and more multilingual—workers into early childhood careers.

Articles

November 10, 2022

Millionaire Migration Rises and Heads to New Destinations

Migrant millionaires are once again on the move, though headed to new destinations amid fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While wealthy new arrivals can help provide a healthy tax base and invest in local economies, they can upset housing markets and exacerbate wealth disparities, as this article describes.

Articles

November 2, 2022

Living in Limbo: Displaced Ukrainians in Poland

Poland hosts millions of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion. While the new arrivals have tended to have been greeted warmly, many have questions about the future. As the months pass, many displaced Ukrainians wonder when and if they will return to their native country. This article, based on interviews with dozens of displaced Ukrainians in Poland, examines their experiences.

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