E.g., 04/16/2024
E.g., 04/16/2024
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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Commentaries
March 2024

As Europe and the United States Face Similar Migration Challenges, Spain Can Act as a Bridge

Image of female worker at the Boqueria market in Barcelona making a crepe
Marcel Crozet/ILO

Spain and the United States both receive their greatest number of immigrants from Latin America, and have worked collaboratively together on displacement crises and other migration issues. As shared immigration challenges dominate debate on both sides of the Atlantic, Spain can serve as a vital bridge in the policy conversation, this commentary notes.

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Policy Briefs
February 2024

A New Way Forward for Employment-Based Immigration: The Bridge Visa

A man in a high-visibility jacket and gloves at work
Aaron Sussell/U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. employment-based visa policies, last updated in 1990, are not aligned with the country’s current and future labor market needs. This policy brief outlines MPI’s proposal for a new visa pathway that could help the United States better leverage immigration to meet its labor market needs, boost protections for both U.S.- and foreign-born workers, and flexibly adapt to future economic and demographic changes.

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Reports
February 2024

Outmatched: The U.S. Asylum System Faces Record Demands

Inadmissible migrants, some seeking asylum, are processed by CBP officers
Mani Albrecht/CBP

The U.S. humanitarian protection system, known for its long history of assisting those in need, has come under incredible pressure in recent years. The asylum adjudications system, which is under-resourced, is struggling to keep up with record asylum seeker arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border. This report examines the state of the asylum system, including changes under the Biden administration and potential lessons for other countries.

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Reports
January 2024

Immigrants’ Eligibility for U.S. Public Benefits: A Primer

A young nurse hugs an elderly patient in a wheelchair
iStock.com/PeopleImages

Immigrants’ eligibility for public benefits in the United States is governed by a complex patchwork of rules that make many groups of noncitizens eligible for some benefits but not others, while other noncitizens are excluded completely. This report provides an overview of immigrants’ eligibility for programs related to general assistance, health and nutrition, employment and income, education, housing, driver’s licenses, and more.

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Reports
January 2024

Migration at the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Challenge Decades in the Making

U.S.-Mexico border fence with Tijuana on the left
Josh Denmark/CBP

Unauthorized migration at the U.S.-Mexico border has been a high-profile and politically divisive issue for decades. But as the nature of migration at the border has changed profoundly, U.S. policy responses have struggled to keep up. This report explores the changing nature of migration flows and migration policy at the border from the early 1990s until today, highlighting key lessons for contemporary policy-making.

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Reports
January 2024

Shifting Realities at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Immigration Enforcement and Control in a Fast-Evolving Landscape

CBP officers screen border crossers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry
Jerry Glaser/CBP

All eyes are on the U.S.-Mexico border, where shifting migration trends and record migrant arrivals have stretched the U.S. border management system beyond its capabilities. As the Biden administration continues to implement its new regime of incentives for orderly arrivals and disincentives for unauthorized crossings, this report analyzes the rapidly changing policy and migration realities and outlines recommendations for a more effective, durable system of border control.

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President Joe Biden signs an executive order.
Articles

Biden at the Three-Year Mark: The Most Active Immigration Presidency Yet Is Mired in Border Crisis Narrative

In three years, President Joe Biden has surpassed the number of immigration-focused executive actions taken by the Trump administration throughout its entire four-year term, making his the most active U.S. presidency ever on immigration. Yet the Biden administration has been repeatedly accused of inaction at the U.S.-Mexico border, where record levels of migrant encounters have occurred. This article reviews the Biden track record on immigration.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams meeting with asylum seekers.
Articles

New York and Other U.S. Cities Struggle with High Costs of Migrant Arrivals

U.S. cities have spent billions of dollars to provide shelter, health care, and other resources to migrants recently arrived from the U.S.-Mexico border. The exceptional costs, which the New York mayor has described as existential, are due to a unique combination of factors, this article explains, including the large numbers of migrants arriving without local connections and long waits for work permits.

Recent Activity

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Commentaries
November 2018
Asylum Reform, Not Troops, Is the Solution to Current Border Reality
By  Doris Meissner
Francis Cissna keynotes 15th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference
Multimedia
October 1, 2018
15th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference
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Articles
October 24, 2018
Census Citizenship Question Triggers Legal and Political Fallout
By Muzaffar Chishti and Jessica Bolter
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Multimedia
September 27, 2018
The U.S. Asylum System in Crisis: First Steps for Rescue
coverthumb MPI AsylumSystemInCrisis
Reports
September 2018
The U.S. Asylum System in Crisis: Charting a Way Forward
By  Doris Meissner, Faye Hipsman and T. Alexander Aleinikoff
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Commentaries
September 2018
People Leave Footprints: Millions More Unauthorized Immigrants Cannot Be ‘Hidden’ in Data Estimates
By  Julia Gelatt, Michael Fix and Jennifer Van Hook
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Reports
September 2018
A Profile of Houston’s Diverse Immigrant Population in a Rapidly Changing Policy Landscape
By  Randy Capps and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
EVENT PHOTO 2018.9.5 CORCHADO event
Multimedia
September 5, 2018
Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration

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Recent Activity

Commentaries
November 2018

Asylum Reform, Not Troops, Is the Solution to Current Border Reality

Asylum reform, not the "shock-and-awe" deployment of thousands of troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to deal with the migrant caravan, represents the real path to addressing the current realities of mixed economic and humanitarian migration flows, as the person who presided over the last reform of the U.S. asylum system in the mid-1990s explains in this commentary.

Video, Audio
October 1, 2018

15th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

At the 15th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, held in October 2018, leading experts and government officials discussed the role that immigration is playing in the mid-term elections; how the courts are handling key immigration questions; and recent changes in the U.S. asylum system, border and interior enforcement, and regulations surrounding legal immigration.   

Articles
October 24, 2018

Census Citizenship Question Triggers Legal and Political Fallout

Legal and political controversy surrounds the Trump administration's decision to include a question on citizenship status in the 2020 decennial census, the first such inclusion since the 1950 census. This article examines the administration's conflicting statements about the genesis of the plan, concerns that the decision could affect the accuracy of the census, and legal challenges pending in a number of states.

Video, Audio, Webinars
September 27, 2018

The U.S. Asylum System in Crisis: First Steps for Rescue

Speakers, including report authors, discuss the findings from an MPI report that analyzes the factors that have brought the U.S. asylum system to a crisis point. During the discussion, the authors propose common-sense steps that can be implemented now to jump-start the system's rescue.

Reports
September 2018

The U.S. Asylum System in Crisis: Charting a Way Forward

The United States has a long tradition of providing asylum to those in need. But in recent years, case backlogs have grown and many asylum seekers now wait years for a decision. This report examines the factors that have brought the U.S. asylum system to this crisis point and proposes common-sense steps that can be taken to restore timeliness and fairness, while deterring abuses.

Commentaries
September 2018

People Leave Footprints: Millions More Unauthorized Immigrants Cannot Be ‘Hidden’ in Data Estimates

In a commentary, MPI and Penn State researchers explain why an academic article suggesting the unauthorized population is significantly higher than previously estimated derives from seriously flawed assumptions. The researchers, who peer-reviewed the analysis, find the authors overestimate successful illegal crossings by misapplying data from the 2000s to the 1990s, when crossing patterns were much different.

Reports
September 2018

A Profile of Houston’s Diverse Immigrant Population in a Rapidly Changing Policy Landscape

The Houston metro area, home to 1.6 million immigrants, is diverse and rapidly growing. This report sketches the area's immigrant population, examining top origin countries, key socioeconomic measures, and more. It also explores how Hurricane Harvey affected the immigrant population, and how national policy changes under the Trump administration are being felt locally, including by DACA recipients and asylum seekers.

Video
September 5, 2018

Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration

A book discussion with author and veteran journalist Alfredo Corchado, MPI President Andrew Selee, and other experts on the nature of U.S.-Mexico immigration and the role of Mexican immigrants in the United States.

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