U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides thought leadership on ways to improve the U.S. immigration system so that it works most effectively in the national interest. To that end, its work focuses on immigration pathways to the United States and immigration enforcement policies and their impacts. It examines the complex demographic, economic, social, political, foreign policy, and other forces that shape U.S. immigration.
Program staff produce data and analyses of immigration trends and the characteristics of U.S. immigrant populations, including unauthorized immigrants. And they conduct original research on the impacts of policy change and the experiences of immigrant populations in diverse parts of the country. This work is frequently informed by private convenings of policymakers and key stakeholders. For more, click here.
Featured
The Immigration Debate America Needs—and Is Not Having
Immigration is central to America’s economic future, yet debate fixates on border crises and policy failures instead of how a modern legal…
Trump Restrictions on Legal Immigration Could Sharply Reduce U.S. Population Growth
President Donald Trump's second-term curbs on legal immigration, spanning visas, refugees, and family reunification, could meaningfully slow U.S…
More Featured Work
Key Statistics
Learn more about immigrants and immigration to the United States
14.8%
The immigrant share of the total U.S. population
Learn how this share has evolved (opens in a new tab)50.2 million
The number of immigrants in the United States
Explore Data Profiles by State (opens in a new tab)18.4%
The share of workers in the U.S. civilian labor force who are immigrants
Get the data at U.S. and state levels (opens in a new tab)- General Inquiries
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Michelle Mittelstadt
202 266 1910 [email protected]
Showing 211–220 of 819 results
Trump's Promise of Millions of Deportations Is Yet to Be Fulfilled
Despite 400-plus executive actions during its first term, the Trump administration deported significantly fewer unauthorized immigrants than the Obama administration did.
Rethinking the U.S.-Mexico Border Immigration Enforcement System: A Policy Road Map
This road map urges restructuring U.S.-Mexico border enforcement into an enduring function, marrying effective border security with fair, humane enforcement and increased cooperation.
The U.S. Presidential Campaign Cements Political Parties’ Deepening Schism on Immigration
The 2020 U.S. presidential campaign crystallized two decades of partisan drift on immigration, with a sharp divide on belief about immigrants’ contributions to the country.
Immigrant-Origin Students in U.S. Higher Education: A Data Profile
Immigrant-origin students, who were 28 percent of U.S. college enrollment in 2018, are growing fast and projected to drive U.S. labor force growth through at least 2035.
Navigating the Future of Work: The Role of Immigrant-Origin Workers in the Changing U.S. Economy
Immigrant-origin workers drove 83 percent of U.S. labor force growth from 2010 to 2018 and face similar automation and job-decline risks as their native-born peers.
Broad and Blunt, the Trump Administration’s H-1B Changes Miss the Opportunity for Real Reform
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.
17th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference
This year’s Immigration Law and Policy Conference examines the immigration policy agenda under the Trump administration, including changes in the asylum system; the vast societal upheaval brought on by COVID-19 and the rising racial justice movement; what the future of U.S. immigration may look like; and many other topics in advance of a consequential general election that offers starkly different choices with respect to U.S. immigration policy.
The U.S. Immigration Policymaker-in-Chief: The Long History of Executive Authority over Immigration
This discussion examines the long tradition of the U.S. president as immigration policymaker in chief, the Trump administration’s substantial use of executive power to change the country’s course on immigration, and how the president’s role in immigration policy is a inevitability that should be carefully considered and reimagined in any blueprint for immigration reform or strategy for activism on immigration.
Immigration Enforcement and the Mental Health of Latino High School Students
Surveys of Latino high school students in 2018–19 found widespread enforcement fears, with more than half meeting clinical thresholds for anxiety, PTSD, or depression.
Excluding Millions: How Trump Administration Changes to the Decennial Census Could Leave Out U.S. Citizens and Immigrants
This MPI webinar, featuring a former U.S. Census Bureau director and other top experts, focused on the many challenges facing the 2020 Census could affect the count and representation of immigrant communities, difficulties inherent in data matching to determine legal status, and the legal and constitutional issues surrounding the administration’s actions.