E.g., 08/03/2021
E.g., 08/03/2021
U.S. Immigration Policy Program

U.S. Immigration Policy Program

Border Security
Immigrant Profiles & Demographics
Employment & the Economy
Illegal Immigration & Interior Enforcement
Immigrant Integration
Immigration Policy & Law
Refugee & Asylum Policy
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Policy Briefs
June 2021

Immigrant and Other U.S. Workers a Year into the Pandemic: A Focus on Top Immigrant States

Receptionist wearing personal protective equipment while interacting with a customer
iStock.com/Mustafa Gull

Immigrant workers have been hit hard by the pandemic-related economic crisis across the United States and in many states with the largest immigrant populations. This issue brief examines how workers in different states and different industries have fared, looking at how employment trends have been shaped by state-level factors such as the length and timing of stay-at-home orders and definitions of who is an “essential” worker.

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Commentaries
June 2021

Lessons from Europe: The U.S. Opportunity to Rethink the Links Between Development Assistance and Migration

Photo of woman in Central African Republic participating in cash for work program
Amanda Nero/IOM

As the United States embarks on a new strategy to address the root causes of migration and displacement from Central America, there is much that it can learn from Europe's experience in linking up migration and development aid. This commentary examines the experience of the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), drawing five key lessons directly applicable to the situation in Central America.

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Reports
June 2021

Leaving Money on the Table: The Persistence of Brain Waste among College-Educated Immigrants

A young medical professional at a clinic
iStock.com/Charday Penn

While the educational credentials of recent immigrants to the United States have steadily risen, licensing and other barriers continue to prevent many college-educated immigrants from working at their skill level. This underutilization is particularly acute for Black and Latino college graduates, even after controlling for sociodemographic and educational characteristics. This report offers a U.S. and state profile of underemployment, and possible policy remedies.

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Commentaries
May 2021

U.S. Government Makes Significant Strides in Receiving Unaccompanied Children but Major Challenges Remain

Unaccompanied children in CBP custody before being turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement
Jaime Rodriguez Sr./CBP

The federal government has made notable progress since March 2021 in getting unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border out of Border Patrol facilities and into Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody, and then releasing them to parents or other sponsors. Yet there are serious concerns about standards of care and conditions in a new type of ORR facility: emergency intake sites, as this commentary explores.

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Policy Briefs
May 2021

Rethinking the U.S. Legal Immigration System: A Policy Road Map

Man fills out immigration paperwork on a clipboard
iStock

The U.S. legal immigration system, last significantly updated by Congress in 1990, is profoundly misaligned with demographic and other realities—resulting in enormous consequences for the country and for its economy. This road map sketches the broad contours of some of the most needed reforms in the legal immigration system, made all the more urgent by U.S. population aging and changing labor market demands.

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Policy Briefs
April 2021

The Integration of Immigrant Health Professionals: Looking beyond the COVID-19 Crisis

A health-care provider places a bandage on the injection site of a patient who just received a vaccine.
Lauren Bishop/CDC

The U.S. health-care workforce came under incredible strain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longer-term trends—including the aging and increasing diversity of the U.S. population, and health-care worker retirement—are also shaping demand for services and the supply of health workers. This issue brief looks at how the skills and expertise of underutilized immigrant and refugee health professionals in the United States can be better leveraged to meet these challenges.

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Rethinking US Immigration CMS

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The Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy Initiative is generating a big-picture, evidence-driven vision of the role immigration can and should play in America’s future. In a range of reports and other analyses, the Rethinking Initiative is examining the state of the U.S. asylum system, border enforcement, the legal immigration system, immigration detention, and the immigration courts, and is advancing pragmatic policy solutions to fix the long dysfunctional immigration system.

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Rising Child Migration to the United States

Find in one place the relevant MPI resources on increasing unaccompanied child migration to the United States from Central America. Research, articles, data tools, and public briefings that analyze the trends and policy developments surrounding this growing phenomenon, first seen in 2014, are collected here. Data on Central American immigrant populations in the United States and country profiles of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are also accessible here.

Recent Activity

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Reports
November 2009
Tied to the Business Cycle: How Immigrants Fare in Good and Bad Economic Times
By  Pia M. Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny
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Multimedia
September 10, 2009
Immigrant Detention: Can ICE Meet Its Legal Imperatives and Case Management Responsibilities?
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Reports
September 2009
Immigrant Detention: Can ICE Meet its Legal Imperatives and Case Management Responsibilities?
By  Donald M. Kerwin and Serena Yi-Ying Lin
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Multimedia
July 30, 2009
The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employer Verification Right
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Multimedia
July 20, 2009
E-Verify: An Assessment of its Strengths and Weaknesses
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Reports
July 2009
The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employment Verification Right
By  Doris Meissner and Marc R. Rosenblum
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Reports
July 2009
Aligning Temporary Immigration Visas with U.S. Labor Market Needs: The Case for a New System of Provisional Visas
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Doris Meissner, Marc R. Rosenblum and Madeleine Sumption
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Multimedia
June 24, 2009
6th Annual Immigration Law & Policy Conference

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Recent Activity

Reports
November 2009

Tied to the Business Cycle: How Immigrants Fare in Good and Bad Economic Times

This report analyzes employment and unemployment patterns from 1994 to 2008, offers possible explanations for why labor market outcomes for immigrants have been more cyclical, and proposes possible public policy solutions for mitigating immigrants’ vulnerability to the business cycle. 

Video
September 10, 2009

Immigrant Detention: Can ICE Meet Its Legal Imperatives and Case Management Responsibilities?

A panel discussion exploring whether ICE is capable of meeting legal standards and manage its detention system with ICE's Dora Schriro, Detention Watch Network's Andrea Black, and MPI expert Donald Kerwin.
Reports
September 2009

Immigrant Detention: Can ICE Meet its Legal Imperatives and Case Management Responsibilities?

This report explores whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is capable of fully complying with the law and managing its sprawling detention system, and provides a roadmap for meeting the data needs essential for making humane, cost-effective, and legally sound decisions related to those in custody.

Audio, Webinars
July 30, 2009

The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employer Verification Right

A webinar that examines the E-Verify system, with report co-author Marc R. Rosenblum, MPI Senior Policy Analyst.

Video
July 20, 2009

E-Verify: An Assessment of its Strengths and Weaknesses

This discussion focuses on E-Verify, the federal government's electronic employment verification system, and the release of an MPI report that assesses the program's strengths and weaknesses.
Reports
July 2009

Aligning Temporary Immigration Visas with U.S. Labor Market Needs: The Case for a New System of Provisional Visas

In order to rectify the shortcomings of a rigid and outdated U.S. visa system set in place by the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), this report recommends creating a new visa stream called provisional visas which would sync visa policies with the way in which labor markets work in practice, and bridge temporary and permanent employment-based admissions to the United States in a predictable and transparent way.

Reports
July 2009

The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employment Verification Right

This report provides an in-depth examination of the limitations of the existing E-Verify system. Alongside recommendations for strengthening E-Verify and mitigating its unintended consequences, the report offers proposals for three next-generation verification pilot concepts that would tap new technologies and practices to overcome the core weaknesses of the system.

Video
June 24, 2009

6th Annual Immigration Law & Policy Conference

This conference offers law and policy analysis and discussion on cutting-edge immigration issues.

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