Immigrant Integration: Priorities for the Next Decade

May 2010 Meeting

The Council’s fourth plenary meeting, “Immigrant Integration: Priorities for the Next Decade,” was held on May 5-7, 2010, at the Rockefeller Center in Bellagio, Italy. This meeting analyzed the global recession’s effects on immigrant integration and developed several recommendations for effectively investing in immigrants during the “long recovery” from the crisis. The meeting began by examining how immigrants might have lost ground, looking at socioeconomic indicators (changes in educational and labor market attainment), political indicators (trends in extremism, discrimination, and public opinion), and material indicators (reductions in funding for integration programs and practices). Participants concluded by determining priorities for which integration-related investments national and local governments should make in the coming decade. Read the Council Statement issued following the meeting.

Prioritizing Integration
The global recession is having a major impact on immigrant integration. With cuts in public budgets and a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment across the Atlantic, many governments have made short-term decisions responding to the economic crisis that will have long-term implications for immigrants and the broader society.

This book takes stock of the impact of the crisis on immigrant integration in Europe and the United States. It assesses where immigrants have lost ground, using evidence such as levels of funding for educational programs, employment rates, trends toward protectionism, public opinion, and levels of discrimination.

This book is a compilation of the papers presented at the Council's meeting in May of 2010.

Individual papers presented at the Council’s meeting are available below:

The Relationship Between Immigration and Nativism in Europe and North America
Far-right parties across Europe are gaining momentum, as witnessed by their recent successes at the ballot box in Greece, France, and elsewhere. While immigration is thought to be a major factor fueling the parties’ rise, this report finds that although there is clearly a relationship, the connection is not as straightforward as is often assumed. The report examines the electoral performance of far-right parties in Europe and North America since 1980, finding that high levels of immigration do not automatically lead to more votes for radical-right parties.

Transatlantic Council Statement: Immigrant Integration Priorities for the Next Decade
This Council Statement focuses on immigrant integration and how to shift focus back onto integration as a continuous and interactive process, even amidst the tumult of a persistent economic crisis.