U.S. Immigration Policy Program

Policy Beat

January 26, 2023

Biden at the Two-Year Mark: Significant Immigration Actions Eclipsed by Record Border Numbers

President Joe Biden at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Tia Dufour/DHS

At his term's midpoint, President Joe Biden has relied on executive action to advance his immigration agenda more than his predecessors, including Donald Trump. Yet many of the changes to interior enforcement, humanitarian protection, and other areas have been overshadowed by the record pace of arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border, which has presented the administration with major policy and operational challenges.

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Fact Sheets

December 2022

The Skills and Economic Outcomes of Immigrant and U.S.-Born College Graduates

An FDA researcher stores stem cell samples for analysis

Michael J. Ermarth/FDA

College-educated immigrants are more likely to have advanced degrees than their U.S.-born peers with college degrees. But their educational levels have not always translated into similar occupational gains: They are more likely to be overeducated for their positions. Drawing on PIAAC data, this fact sheet sketches educational characteristics, monthly earnings, skill underutilization, and job quality for immigrant and U.S.-born college graduates alike.

Fact Sheets

November 2022

A Profile of Low-Income Immigrants in the United States

iStock.com/Massimo Giachetti

Immigrants in the United States experience strong economic mobility overall. But for some, limited educational attainment and English proficiency, and the challenges of restarting life in a new country, can result in low incomes and economic hardship. This fact sheet looks at the origins, states of residence, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and employment of low-income immigrants.

Commentaries

October 2022

Record-Breaking Migrant Encounters at the U.S.-Mexico Border Overlook the Bigger Story

Photo of individuals re-entering Mexico after U.S. expulsion

Jerry Glaser/U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Headlines focusing on the record-breaking nature of the 2.4 million migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022 overlook the much bigger story: Migrant and asylum seeker flows have rapidly diversified beyond Mexico and northern Central America and as a result, U.S. enforcement policies are misaligned. Today's reality sharply underscores the need for new regional approaches, this commentary argues.

Policy Briefs

October 2022

Diverging Pathways: Immigrants’ Legal Status and Access to Postsecondary Credentials

A young woman operating an industrial drilling machine

iStock.com/Omar Osman

As the United States seeks to adapt to trends such as technological change and aging that are reshaping the labor market, increasing productivity and the number of high-skilled workers will be critical. This issue brief explores the characteristics of the 115 million adults without postsecondary credentials, 21 percent of them immigrant, as well as the prospects for credential acquisition for foreign-born subgroups.

Reports

July 2022

Changing the Playbook: Immigrants and the COVID-19 Response in Two U.S. Communities

Aerial views of Worthington, MN, and Houston, TX

iStock.com/Jacob Boomsma & iStock.com/simonkr

U.S. cities and towns have responded to COVID-19 in ways that are as diverse as the communities they aim to support. This report looks at how two very different locations—Worthington, MN, and the greater Houston area—incorporated immigrants into their relief efforts, through partnerships, strategic outreach, targeted assistance, and more. The report also highlights useful lessons for responses to future emergencies.

A person walks with luggage in John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

Articles

After a Slump, Legal Immigration to the United States Is Returning to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Legal immigration to the United States fell to its lowest level in years during the COVID-19 pandemic, but preliminary data suggest it is returning to previous levels, belying predictions that the public-health crisis had allowed the Trump administration to make lasting, deep cuts. Yet the patterns have changed and persistent case processing backlogs could spell long-term problems, as this article explores.

A mariachi band performing in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Articles

Mexican Immigrants in the United States

Mexicans are by far the largest immigrant group in the United States, accounting for nearly one-fourth of all immigrants. However their numbers have been declining and in 2021 there were 1 million fewer than a decade ago. At the same time, despite years in which more new migrants came from China and India, Mexicans once again count as the largest group of new arrivals. This article outlines the changing shape and composition of this immigrant population.

Featured

Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy Initiative

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.

Recent Activity

Multimedia January 16, 2019 Promising Strategies for Reintegration of Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America	Reports January 2019 Sustainable Reintegration: Strategies to Support Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America By Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, Luis Argueta and Randy Capps
Commentaries January 2019 A Wall Cannot Fix Problems at Border; Smart Solutions for Asylum Crisis Can By Doris Meissner and Sarah Pierce	Articles December 20, 2018 Pushing Migration to the Forefront, Populists Make New Strides By Michelle Mittelstadt
Articles December 19, 2018 Shaping a Narrative of "Crisis" at Border, Trump Administration Takes Muscular Action By Michelle Mittelstadt	Articles December 18, 2018 Children on the Frontlines By Michelle Mittelstadt
Multimedia December 13, 2018 Exploring the Potential of Two-Generation Strategies in Refugee Integration	Reports December 2018 Promoting Refugee Integration in Challenging Times: The Potential of Two-Generation Strategies By Mark Greenberg, Julia Gelatt, Jessica Bolter, Essey Workie and Isabelle Charo

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Reports March 2003 America's Challenge: Domestic Security, Civil Liberties, and National Unity After September 11 By Muzaffar Chishti, Doris Meissner, Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Michael Wishnie, Stephen Yale-Loehr and Jay Peterzell	Policy Briefs February 2003 Census 2010 and the Foreign Born: Averting the Data Crisis By Elizabeth Grieco
Policy Briefs June 2002 Reconcilable Differences? An Evaluation of Current INS Restructuring Proposals By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Deborah W. Meyers	Books May 2002 Citizenship Policies for an Age of Migration By T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Douglas Klusmeyer
Fact Sheets April 2002 A Grand Bargain: Balancing the National Security, Economic, and Immigration Interests of the U.S. and Mexico By Demetrios G. Papademetriou	Policy Briefs September 2001 Background Paper on Immigration and National Security

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Policy Beat

March 13, 2015

All Eyes on U.S. Federal Courts as Deferred Action Programs Halted

Attention is now squarely focused on the U.S. federal courts where the legal battle over President Obama's executive actions on immigration continues. While congressional efforts to roll back the directives appear to have been put aside, at least temporarily, implementation of the signature deferred action programs announced in November 2014 remains blocked. The administration, however, is moving forward with other aspects of the executive order, as this article explores.

Spotlight

February 26, 2015

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

An estimated 41.3 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2013, about 13 percent of the total U.S. population, constituting the world's largest foreign-born population. This Spotlight from MPI's Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova offers the most current and sought-after data on immigrants in the United States—including origin, educational attainment, the unauthorized, deportations, and more—in one easy-to-use resource.

Policy Beat

February 11, 2015

As Implementation Nears, U.S. Deferred Action Programs Encounter Legal, Political Tests

President Obama's sweeping executive action to shield as many as 3.7 million unauthorized immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents from deportation is facing tough legal and political challenges. This month's Policy Beat examines the efforts to proceed with implementation of DAPA and the expansion of DACA despite a lawsuit brought by a coalition of 26 states and staunch opposition in the Republican-controlled Congress.

Feature

February 5, 2015

The Geopolitical Origins of the U.S. Immigration Act of 1965

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, radically altering U.S. policy and reshaping the demographic profile of the United States. Examining the foreign policy and domestic concerns leading to the law's enactment, David S. FitzGerald and David Cook-Martín argue that the demise of the national-origins quota system was driven by geopolitical factors.

Policy Beat

January 13, 2015

Normalization of Relations with Cuba May Portend Changes to U.S. Immigration Policy

Normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States will have a significant impact on U.S. immigration policy and future Cuban migration to the United States. This Policy Beat explores the U.S.-Cuba migration relationship, as fear of changes to the "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy has spurred hundreds of new boat arrivals in recent months.

Recent Activity

Video, Audio, Webinars

January 16, 2019

Promising Strategies for Reintegration of Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America

This MPI webinar focuses on reception and reintegration services for returning migrants, along with the heightened pressure policymakers in Mexico and Central America are facing to design systems and programs that support both returnees and the communities in which they settle. Authors of a year-long study of reception and reintegration services in Mexico and the Northern Triangle discuss the findings of their fieldwork.

Reports

January 2019

Sustainable Reintegration: Strategies to Support Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America

Reception and reintegration programs for deported and other returning migrants represent a long-term investment for migrant-origin and destination countries, holding the potential to reduce re-migration and permit communities of origin to benefit from the skills migrants learn abroad. This report offers recommendations to make reintegration programs more effective in Mexico and Central America.

Commentaries

January 2019

A Wall Cannot Fix Problems at Border; Smart Solutions for Asylum Crisis Can

What President Trump calls a border crisis is in fact a crisis in the asylum system—one worsened at every turn by his administration’s harsh policies and rhetoric. Rather than spend $5.7 billion on a wall, it would be far more effective to use the money to retool an overwhelmed asylum system, adapt outmatched border enforcement infrastructure to respond to the changing composition of arrivals, and work cooperatively with Mexico to tackle the factors propelling Central Americans to flee.

Articles

December 20, 2018

Pushing Migration to the Forefront, Populists Make New Strides

2018 proved a banner year for far-right populist movements in Europe and the Americas. They claimed the presidency of Brazil, sparked the collapse of the Belgian government, and—whether in or out of office—put a harder-edged stamp on migration and asylum policies in Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, and beyond.

Articles

December 19, 2018

Shaping a Narrative of "Crisis" at Border, Trump Administration Takes Muscular Action

The Trump administration took sweeping action in 2018 to slow legal immigration, make life harder for some immigrants already in the United States, rebuff would-be asylum seekers, and reduce refugee resettlement. Shaping a narrative of crisis at the border, the administration significantly changed the U.S. asylum system, deployed troops and tear gas, and separated families—yet Central American migrants continued to arrive.

Articles

December 18, 2018

Children on the Frontlines

Hardline migration and asylum policies in the United States and Australia in 2018 hit turbulence when their effects on the most vulnerable—young children—provoked widespread public revulsion and prompted a retreat, at least temporarily. Still, public outcry over the treatment of child migrants and asylum seekers often runs up against the intractability of the problems facing governments and the lack of good solutions.

Video, Audio, Webinars

December 13, 2018

Exploring the Potential of Two-Generation Strategies in Refugee Integration

On this webinar, MPI researchers and Utah and Colorado refugee coordinators explore promising practices to better serve refugee families, including education services for refugee youth, innovative efforts to secure better jobs for adult refugees, and other services designed to aid integration over time. They also discuss the potential for implementing and supporting two-generation approaches to refugee integration at a time when the system’s funding and capacity are in peril.

Reports

December 2018

Promoting Refugee Integration in Challenging Times: The Potential of Two-Generation Strategies

At a time when the U.S. refugee resettlement system is facing unprecedented challenges, innovative and cost-effective tools for supporting refugee integration are in demand. This report explores how a two-generation approach to service provision could help all members of refugee families—from young children to working-age adults and the elderly—find their footing.

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