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)
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Michelle Mittelstadt
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Impending USCIS Furloughs Will Contribute to a Historic Drop in U.S. Immigration Levels
USCIS furloughs, visa suspensions, and presidential bans together likely will drive an unprecedented collapse in U.S. immigration, with long-term demographic and economic impacts.
A Bumpy Path to U.S. Citizenship: A Survey of Changing USCIS Practices
Marking the launch of MPI report on USCIS’s evolving procedures for handling citizenship applications, this webinar focuses on the findings from a national survey of naturalization assistance providers. The discussion also examines the increasing obstacles to citizenship, and the effects the pandemic-related shutdown and USCIS financial turmoil could have on the ability of would-be Americans to take the oath of citizenship.
Dismantling and Reconstructing the U.S. Immigration System: A Catalog of Changes under the Trump Presidency
The Trump administration took more than 400 immigration executive actions during its first term, curtailing legal and unauthorized immigration and dismantling humanitarian protections.
A Rockier Road to U.S. Citizenship? Findings of a Survey on Changing Naturalization Procedures
A 2019 survey found stricter USCIS scrutiny, rising naturalization processing times, and proposed fee hikes made U.S. citizenship harder for immigrants to attain.
Brain Waste among U.S. Immigrants with Health Degrees: A Multi-State Profile
Some 263,000 immigrants with health degrees are underutilized due to licensing barriers—an untapped U.S. workforce that could help address COVID-19-era health-care shortages.
Millions of U.S. Citizens Could Be Excluded under Trump Plan to Remove Unauthorized Immigrants from Census Data
The Trump administration's plan to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the 2020 Census data used to reapportion 435 congressional seats among the 50 states could misclassify as many as 20 million U.S. citizens, as the result of expected data-matching errors. The effects of this exclusion could be most pronounced in low-income urban and rural communities, reducing their voting power relative to more affluent ones, as this commentary explains.
As #DefundThePolice Movement Gains Steam, Immigration Enforcement Spending and Practices Attract Scrutiny
U.S. immigration enforcement spending outpaces all major federal criminal agencies combined, but accountability, oversight, and transparency have not kept pace with the dramatic growth.
Beyond the Border: U.S.-Mexican Migration Accord Has Ushered in Sweeping Change in Mexico in Its First Year
As the U.S.-Mexico migration cooperation agreement marks its first year, this discussion examines how the accord has reshaped Mexico’s immigration enforcement policies, exposed weaknesses in its humanitarian protection system, and exacerbated precarious conditions for migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. Speakers also explore how pandemic-induced changes to mobility may affect the future of U.S.-Mexico relations.
COVID-19 and Unemployment: Assessing the Early Fallout for Immigrants and Other U.S. Workers
Immigrants—especially Latina workers—suffered steeper early COVID-19 job losses than U.S.-born workers, driven largely by industry concentration.
One Year after the U.S.-Mexico Agreement: Reshaping Mexico’s Migration Policies
The June 2019 U.S.-Mexico migration agreement pushed Mexico toward enforcement-first policies, cutting border crossings while straining humanitarian protections.
