Immigration and Integration Policymaking in a Shifting World: A Blue-Sky Conference to Mark MPI’s 25th Year

Immigration policy in the 25 years since MPI was launched has become a more visible, important, and politically sensitive issue almost everywhere around the world.

What makes for effective immigration and integration policy in a rapidly shifting economic, social, and political landscape? Can immigration still prove mutually beneficial to both host societies and migrants? We are witnessing a period of wide and often sudden policy shifts in the United States and around the world, as countries grapple with the role of immigration in their economies and societies.

In an era made all the more turbulent by rapid technological advances, demographic shifts, and climate pressures, the question of how policymakers can shape immigration and immigrant integration systems to meet the challenges of the present —and the future — are front and center for MPI, as they are for people around the world.

Join us on October 6 for a 25^th anniversary conference, offered online, featuring two panel discussions with key experts.

3:00 - 4:10 pm ET              Immigration Policy in an Age of Disruption

As societies age, birth rates evolve, and technologies such as AI promise to reshape labor markets and skill needs, this conversation will explore how policymakers in major immigrant-destination countries can build immigration systems that are focused on addressing economic concerns, flexible enough to adjust to changing workforce patterns, and designed to build and sustain public trust over time. 

Moderator: Trevor Phillips, Senior Global Affairs Correspondent, CBS News

• Meghan Benton, Director, Global Program, MPI
• Emily Haber, former Ambassador of Germany to the United States; former State Secretary overseeing security and migration, German Federal Ministry of the Interior 
• Doris Meissner, Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, MPI; former Commissioner, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
• Catherine Rampell, Economics Editor, The Bulwark; Anchor, MS NOW

4:15 – 5:15 pm ET             An Imperfect Union: From Immigration Divide to Common Ground?

While much of the U.S. policy and public conversation on immigration focuses on border and interior enforcement, numbers of admissions, and the entry pathways, how immigrants integrate into society and their effects on labor markets, schools, and communities get far less policy attention. This conversation will address how we understand immigration and its impact on American society, the different climates of reception, how we understand the changing politics of immigration, and whether we are as divided on these issues as a society as we think.

Moderator: Cecilia Muñoz, Senior Advisor, Hyphen; Co-Founder, Welcome.US; former Director, White House Domestic Policy Council

• Manuel Castro, Senior Fellow, Center for Migration Studies; former Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs, City of New York
• Margie McHugh, Director, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, MPI 
• Lydia Saad, Director of U.S. Social Research, Gallup 
• Peter Skerry, Professor, Boston College; Chairman, Immigration Policy Roundtable, Citizens Commission on Immigration, a Braver Angels initiative