E.g., 12/03/2023
E.g., 12/03/2023

Migration Information Source

Image of USCIS employees at work
USCIS

The U.S. immigration system is notorious for persistent backlogs and antiquated processes. In recent months, under-the-radar changes have made a dent in the logjam and helped bring the system into the 21st century. But some pandemic-era changes are set to expire, potentially undoing the incremental reforms. This article details the quiet technological and efficiency improvements in U.S. immigration operations.

A woman and child walk in the Somali region of Ethiopia.
©UNICEF/Mulugeta Ayene

Is climate change a major driver of migration and displacement? From where are people leaving, and where are they going? This informative primer, a Climate Migration 101 of sorts, provides answers to basic questions about climate change and migration, starting with how and where climate change triggers human movement.

A Haitian-American book fair in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood
Mitchell Zachs/Knight Foundation

The United States is the world’s top destination for Haitian migrants, who in recent years have fled an array of disasters and crises. Compared to other immigrant groups in the United States, the nearly 731,000 Haitians are more likely to be naturalized citizens, arrive through family-based pathways, and work in the service industry, as this data-rich article details.

A Syrian woman in Turkey
© ILO/Fatma Cankara

Turkey is home to the world’s largest refugee population, a fact that has been a source of pride, a geopolitical tool, and a logistical challenge. This article shows how the millions of Syrians who have arrived since 2011 comprise just one aspect of Turkey’s rich and complex migration history. The country has been a significant host, a transit point for individuals heading to Europe, and a source of migrant laborers.

The U.S. Coast Guard interdicts a vessel with Cuban migrants.
Cutter Hamilton crew/U.S. Coast Guard

Amid the highest Caribbean maritime migration levels in a generation, the Biden administration is relying on a carrot-and-stick strategy it honed amid record unauthorized migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. The approach, combining limits on asylum, expanded legal pathways, and international enforcement partnerships, could be increasingly important if maritime migration rises, as this article explains.

A man with potatoes in Ecuador
©FAO/Claudio Guzman

Ecuador has emerged as a significant destination for Venezuelan migrants, and is also a sizable origin for people heading to the United States and Spain. The Andean nation has found itself enmeshed in the Americas' evolving mobility trends and has responded with a mix of policies that have produced some unforeseen outcomes. This country profile evaluates recent trends and puts them in historical context.

Recent Articles

Flags from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on display

Faced with high emigration rates and shrinking, aging populations, the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—are exploring different ways to lure back nationals who have emigrated and establish or solidify ties with members of the diaspora. Of the three countries, Estonia is proving the most successful, while Latvia appears to be ignoring the looming demographic crisis and lacks an immigration plan.

Canal in Amsterdam

The Netherlands has witnessed a rise in far-right populism, challenging its reputation as a humanitarian haven. Yet, public fears equating immigration with a rise in religious extremism do not necessarily reflect the facts. This profile explores historical and contemporary migration in a country where population growth relies largely on immigration, and analyzes to what extent policymaking has been shaped by rising populism.

President Trump and a Customs and Border Patrol officer stand together

Though it has achieved success in some areas, the Trump administration’s many efforts to stiffen immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior and at the Southwest border are being consistently stymied by court injunctions, existing laws and settlements, state and local resistance, congressional pushback, and migration pressures that are beyond the government’s ability to swiftly address, as this article explores.

Four people stand with a sign at a demonstration

Citizenship and integration policies are often thought of as markers for whether a country is welcoming to immigrants. Yet research suggests that public opinion and political rhetoric play a bigger role in immigrants' sense of belonging. This article explores how boundaries between "us" and "them" are drawn through popular conceptions of nationhood and political rhetoric, and their impact on immigrants' belonging.

Korean band members march in a parade

Approximately 1 million Korean immigrants—the vast majority from South Korea—resided in the United States in 2017. Korean immigrants tend to be highly educated and of high socioeconomic standing. Get the latest data on this population, including flows over time, geographic distribution, employment, and more in this Spotlight.

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For two decades, Australia has experimented with different asylum policies in response to an increase in refugees and asylum seekers entering the country. A look at the country's challenges in managing a hotly contested political and public debate.

For economic and political reasons, more governments are turning to visas to admit select groups of highly skilled immigrants (especially in high-tech and high-growth fields) to their countries to boost entrepreneurship and enhance job creation. A look at the challenges, opportunities, and increasing popularity of these entrepreneur visa programs.

Immigrant legalizations in the United States and Europe ("regularizations" in the EU context) have been used repeatedly for broad and discrete groups of immigrants. A look at how these programs have been implemented historically and the political and policy implications they face today.

An estimated 7 percent of people in Mexico were not registered with the government at birth and thus lack official record of their name, age, parentage, and citizenship. Without a birth certificate, unregistered Mexican children lack access to education, health care, and basic social services, while unregistered adults face significant economic and civic-integration challenges. Both groups are more vulnerable to being trafficked, exploited, or recruited into criminal groups. This article provides a primer on this important issue, with insight into the experiences of unregistered, unauthorized Mexican immigrants in the United States.

edpidavros capitol 324

Documentary filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini, the team behind the acclaimed How Democracy Works Now series that explores the battle over comprehensive immigration reform in the 2000s, discuss what it was like to experience Washington, DC and the policymaking process from an insider's perspective.

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MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the fourth-largest immigrant group in the United States.

MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the third-largest immigrant group in the United States.

MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the second-largest immigrant group in the United States.

MPI Data Manager Elizabeth Grieco provides an overview of the largest immigrant group in the United States.

MPI’s Jill Wilson provides an in-depth look at the United States’ population of people born in Africa.

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Justice Department Allows Indefinite Detention of Undocumented Immigrants... Homeland Security Department to Replace NSEERS... Special Registration Deadline Passes for Fourth Group of Foreign Visitors... Immigrants Killed While in U.S. Military Earn Posthumous Citizenship... Student Adjustment Act Reintroduced to Congress... Immigration Bureaus of DHS Receive Additional Funding...
Justice Department Allows Indefinite Detention of Undocumented Immigrants... Homeland Security Department to Replace NSEERS... Special Registration Deadline Passes for Fourth Group of Foreign Visitors... Immigrants Killed While in U.S. Military Earn Posthumous Citizenship... Student Adjustment Act Reintroduced to Congress... Immigration Bureaus of DHS Receive Additional Funding...
FBI, BICE Conduct 'Voluntary Interviews' of Iraqi-Born Immigrants... DHS Plans Operation to Detain Asylum Seekers from Certain Countries... Attorney General Announces Changes to Visa Waiver Program... Tighter Entry Rules Affect Nationals of over 50 Countries... Mexican Consulates Crowded with Applicants for Dual Citizenship... Angolans Lose Temporary Protected Status...
Homeland Security Department Incorporates INS During Restructuring... Proposed DHS Budget Would Fund Foreign Visitor Tracking, Visa Processing... INS Extends Special Registration Deadlines... Lawmakers Demand Details on Registration Program... INS Releases Report on Undocumented Immigrants... Funding for State Jailing of Criminal Undocumented Immigrants Slashed...
INS Special Registration Program Reaches Third Round... Ridge Sworn in as Secretary of Homeland Security... Mexican 'Matricula Consular' Cards Face Opposition... Schools Face Deadline on Electronic Tracking of Foreign Students... INS Adjusts Status Rules for Vietnamese, Cambodian and Lao Resident Aliens...

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