E.g., 09/28/2023
E.g., 09/28/2023
U.S. Immigration Policy Program

U.S. Immigration Policy Program

President Biden meets with DACA recipients
Adam Schultz/White House

The DACA program has received another blow to its survival, with a federal court once again ruling that the executive branch exceeded its authority in creating the program. But with litigation likely to continue for years, it is attrition that is actively reducing the program. This commentary examines the shrinking population of DACA holders, as well as those who have been locked out from participating.

Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a DACA roundtable
Lawrence Jackson/White House

The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States stood at approximately 11.2 million people in mid-2021, with larger annual growth than at any point since 2015, according to MPI's latest estimates. Even as the Mexican unauthorized immigrant population continued its decade-long decline, there were new entrants from a growing array of other countries.

Group of students studying at a library
Jacob Ammentorp Lund/iStock.com

Eighty percent of the increase in U.S. college enrollment between 2000 and 2021 came from U.S.-born students with immigrant parents or first-generation immigrant students. This population, often overlooked, should receive significantly more focus as leaders in higher education and workforce development seek to deliver a skilled workforce for a rapidly changing U.S. labor market, this commentary argues.

A modern courtroom with the U.S. flag
iStock.com/strickke

With a backlog of nearly 2 million cases, years-long wait times for decisions, and overwhelmed judges whose productivity has declined, the U.S. immigration court system is in urgent need of repair. This report examines the factors that have driven the courts to crisis. It then outlines recommendations that promise to advance the goal of delivering timely and fair decisions, and to support the health of the U.S. immigration system more broadly.

Graphic image of man's hand touching screen with word skills
iStock.com/Natali_Mis

Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy is highly unusual for its explicit targeting of visa holders in another country. Opening a dedicated stream specifically for high-skilled immigrants in the United States who hold an H-1B visa is the latest salvo in a growing global competition for talent—one in which some countries are racing ahead of the United States in terms of policy dynamism, as this commentary explores.

A young boy holds hands with his dad as they walk in a park
iStock.com/SolStock

The United States has seen notable declines in overall and child poverty since 2009, continuing even into the period of pandemic-driven economic upheaval. This issue brief takes a closer look at how these trends have played out for immigrants and their children, by citizenship status and race/ethnicity. It also explores factors that have contributed to these poverty declines.

Recent Activity

cover puttingdatatowork
Reports
November 2004
By  Suzette Brooks Masters, Kimberly A. Hamilton and Jill H. Wilson
cover FS_legalimmigrationstilldeclining
Fact Sheets
October 2004
By  Deborah W. Meyers
cover DominicanPopulation
Reports
September 2004
By  Elizabeth Grieco
cover observationsonregandlabor04
Reports
July 2004
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Kevin O'Neil and Maia Jachimowicz
cover FS7_immigrantunionmembers
Fact Sheets
May 2004
By  Elizabeth Grieco

Pages

Recent Activity

Reports
November 2004

This report investigates and addresses gaps in the data needs of immigrant service and advocacy organizations by surveying the most commonly used migration data sources in the field, discussing budget-conscious ways to commission customized analysis through government and private sources, and identifying good providers of training for staff. 

Fact Sheets
October 2004

This fact sheet is an overview of U.S. immigration based on Fiscal Year 2003 data from the 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, which was released in mid-September 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics.

Reports
September 2004

This study provides an overview of the size and growth of the Dominican population in the United States and discusses some of the unique characteristics of this community. The report also highlights the geographic distribution of Dominicans within the United States.

Reports
July 2004

The regularization, or legalization, of unauthorized immigrants has become a central, if controversial, policy tool in many developed countries’ struggle to manage irregular immigration. Because of the sheer size of irregular immigration in the advanced industrial world, regularization programs have become a significant source of legal workers and, in many instances, of prospective citizens.

Fact Sheets
June 2004

This report examines health insurance coverage among the United States’ foreign-born population. Findings highlight differences in coverage rates between native citizens, naturalized foreign-born citizens, and non-citizens.

Fact Sheets
May 2004

Immigrants often work in traditionally unionized sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and construction, or in occupations, such as services, that are becoming increasingly organized—yet little is known about their patterns of union representation. This report offers insight into the union affiliation, including membership and non-member coverage, of employed immigrant workers age 16 and over.

Reports
March 2004

La década de los noventa fue extraordinaria en términos de cantidad y diversidad cultural de trabajadores migratorios que vinieron a vivir a los Estados Unidos. Recién estamos comenzando a comprender las implicaciones a largo plazo de las decisiones y medidas tomadas por los trabajadores migratorios y por las instituciones americanas durante este período de fuerte crecimiento económico.

Reports
March 2004

This report examines the transfer of immigration functions from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service to the newly established Department of Homeland Security and offers an analysis of the Department’s progress in its first year of existence toward accomplishing the two purposes for which it was created: (1) to ensure that immigration regulation and control enhances national security; and (2) to improve the performance of both the service and enforcement sides of the immigration system by allocating their respective functions to separate units within DHS. 

Pages