MPI Newsroom

Articles

November 17, 2020

Special Issue: Climate Change and Migration

Sibylle Desjardins/IOM

Climate change promises to profoundly impact all aspects of human society. This special issue of the Migration Information Source and a companion podcast, Changing Climate, Changing Migration, examine how the effects of environmental change are shaping migration across the globe, now and in the future.

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Policy Beat

November 20, 2020

The “Trump Effect” on Legal Immigration Levels: More Perception than Reality?

President Donald Trump speaks at an event in Arizona.

Gage Skidmore

Despite a widespread perception that the Trump administration has drastically slashed legal immigration to the United States, a review of the data shows that temporary and permanent admissions during the period mostly followed previous trends—at least until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This article examines trends in temporary, permanent, and humanitarian admissions during the administration, and the related policies that could take a more significant bite ahead if left unchanged.

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Policy Briefs

November 2020

At the Starting Gate: The Incoming Biden Administration’s Immigration Plans

Joe Biden speaking with supporters in Henderson, Nevada

Gage Skidmore

Joe Biden pledged during his campaign to reverse some of the most restrictive immigration actions undertaken during Donald Trump’s four years in office. While some actions can be undone with the stroke of a pen, others will take more time. This policy brief outlines the incoming administration’s top immigration priorities, examines challenges and opportunities ahead, and previews MPI policy ideas that could improve the immigration system and advance the national interest.

Commentaries

October 2020

Broad and Blunt, the Trump Administration’s H-1B Changes Miss the Opportunity for Real Reform

Headway/Unsplash

The Trump administration's changes to the H-1B visa program are the most significant in three decades, promising to end the practice of replacing U.S. workers with highly skilled immigrants. While the problems the administration has identified and the interest in protecting U.S. workers are legitimate ones, its approach may cripple the H-1B program itself, as this commentary explains.

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Commentaries

October 2020

The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum—A Bold Move to Avoid the Abyss?

European Parliament

The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum represents a last-gasp effort by European leaders to devise a plan that keeps all 27 countries at the table, at a time when growing numbers are refusing to accept asylum seekers under the existing redistribution mechanism. Can the pact’s concept of solidarity à la carte work? The pact may well be the last step before an abyss in which each country determines the fate of migrants and refugees, practically guaranteeing future conflict.

Commentaries

September 2020

Greece’s Moria Tragedy: The Crash Test for the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum

Rick Bajornas/UN

The fires that devastated the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos have further raised the stakes for the soon-to-be unveiled EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. If Moria persists as a concept—with asylum seekers prevented from onward movement elsewhere in Europe—this becomes an integral pillar of future EU asylum practice, whatever is written on paper, as this commentary explores.