E.g., 04/23/2024
E.g., 04/23/2024
Refugee & Asylum Policy

Refugee & Asylum Policy

Asylum Seekers
Refugees & Resettlement
_RefugeeAsylumPolicy credit

Tens of millions of people around the globe have been forcibly displaced by conflict, natural disaster, or persecution, seeking refuge either within or beyond the borders of their country. Humanitarian protection, whether for refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced persons (IDPs), represents a key policy area for many major immigrant-receiving countries as well as nations bordering locations where war, political upheaval, or natural disaster have disrupted daily life. The research offered here relates to the law and practice of protecting refugees and IDPs in areas of conflict as well as in industrialized nations, with a focus on secure solutions and effective institutional arrangements for comprehensive protection.

Recent Activity

flick EU ECHO refugee children
Multimedia
April 12, 2018
Responding to Early Childhood Education and Care Needs of Children of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Europe and North America
Coverthumb_ECECforRefugeeChildren
Reports
April 2018
Responding to the ECEC Needs of Children of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Europe and North America
By  Maki Park, Caitlin Katsiaficas and Margie McHugh
RioDeJaneiro RodrigoSoldon Flickr
Articles
March 29, 2018
Migration in Brazil: The Making of a Multicultural Society
By Shari Wejsa and Jeffrey Lesser
Scaling up Refugee Resettlement in Europe
Reports
March 2018
Scaling up Refugee Resettlement in Europe: The Role of Institutional Peer Support
By  Hanne Beirens and Aliyyah Ahad
Flickr Alliance for Education 36502961545_c01bbbca2c_z Courtesy of Allison Shelley The Verbatim Agency for American Education Images of Teachers and Students in Action
Multimedia
March 21, 2018
Supporting DLLs in Superdiverse PreK-3 Programs: Findings from Two Studies
Marine naturalization
Articles
March 22, 2018
Even as Congress Remains on Sidelines, the Trump Administration Slows Legal Immigration
By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica Bolter
EUTurkeydeal Commentary2018
Commentaries
March 2018
Turkey-Style Deals Will Not Solve the Next EU Migration Crisis
By  Elizabeth Collett
Coverthumb_CEAS StructuralWeaknesses
Reports
March 2018
Cracked Foundation, Uncertain Future: Structural Weaknesses in the Common European Asylum System
By  Hanne Beirens

Pages

Feature
August 1, 2003
War in Liberia Highlights Health Threats to Refugees
MPI's Jennifer Schlecht looks at the major dangers confronting the forcibly displaced through the lens of the Liberian conflict.
Feature
August 1, 2003
West Africa's Refugee Crisis Spills Across Many Borders
Policy analyst Jeff Drumtra maps out the devastating wars that are producing a flood of refugees in West Africa.
Feature
January 1, 2003
Troubled Waters: Rescue of Asylum Seekers and Refugees at Sea

Danger often awaits people who set out by boat, seeking safety from upheaval or persecution. MPI Co-Director Kathleen Newland examines how governments, the shipping industry, and international bodies have succeeded — or too frequently, failed — to cast a line to those in need.

Feature
November 1, 2002
Refugees: Risks and Challenges Worldwide

The term "refugee," like the people it describes, can cover a lot of ground. Sharon Stanton Russell, Research Scholar at MIT, maps out out who qualifies for refugee status, as well as the most pressing issues facing the community of institutions tasked to protect them.

Feature
September 1, 2002
Refugee Resettlement in Transition

Change is sweeping the systems that govern refugee resettlement. MPI Co-Director Kathleen Newland examines the most important trends and their implications.

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Recent Activity

Reports
March 2024

Coordination Breakdown: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in Europe

The story of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe is chiefly one of challenges to solidarity and coordination. Cross-border movement—even within Europe’s Schengen Area—ground to a halt, and countries took varied approaches to using travel measures in an attempt to slow the virus’s spread. This report explores the pandemic’s impacts on mobility to and within Europe, its challenges to European solidarity, and lessons for future public-health crises.

Articles
March 6, 2024

Iran Faces Dwindling Water and Escalating Climate Pressures, Aggravating Displacement Threats

Floods, heatwaves, and other extreme weather events have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Iran, with repercussions for residents including the 3.4 million refugees and other forced migrants, who are restricted to climate-affected areas. Environmental challenges may also be pushing some people to move internationally. This article offers a rare look at the climate and migration dynamics in Iran.

Articles
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.

Articles
February 15, 2024

Afghan Immigrants in the United States

The Afghan immigrant population in the United States has grown dramatically since 2010, and particularly since the 2021 withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Most Afghans who obtained a green card in recent years have done so through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, reserved for interpreters and other Afghans who worked with the U.S. government. This article offers data on the approximately 195,000 Afghan immigrants in the United States.

Articles
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.

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.

Policy Briefs
February 2024

The Mobility Key: Realizing the Potential of Refugee Travel Documents

Travel documents are critical facilitators of mobility. But for refugees, who cannot safely use a passport issued by their origin country, the lack of a usable travel document can shut them out of work, study, or other opportunities beyond their first country of asylum. This policy brief examines alternative documents that can facilitate refugees’ movement, key barriers to acquiring them, and strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Expert Q&A, Audio
January 24, 2024

Are the Pacific’s Climate Migration Experiments a Preview for the World?

What can the rest of the world learn from climate migration legal experiments in the Pacific? This episode of the Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast features insights from renowned legal scholar Jane McAdam, who directs the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW.

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