North America

Canada

Mexico

North America is a dynamic migration region, with the United States home to more immigrants than any other country in the world, the Mexico-U.S. corridor the globe's top migration corridor, and Canada a leading destination for migrants. Research collected here focuses on everything from visa policy and border management to immigrant integration, national identity, the demographics of immigrants in the region and their educational and workforce outcomes, and ways to more effectively use migration policy as a lever for national and regional competitiveness.

Graphic image of man's hand touching screen with word skills

Commentaries

Canada's New Tech Talent Strategy Takes Aim at High-Skilled Immigrants in the United States

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.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other leaders at the 2022 Summit of the Americas

Commentaries

The Los Angeles Declaration Could Represent a Big Step for Real Migration Cooperation across the Americas

The Los Angeles Agreement on Migration and Protection signed by leaders from 20 countries across the Western Hemisphere at the 2022 Summit of the Americas marks a significant step forward in creating a common language and a coherent set of ideas for more cooperatively managing migration movements across a region that has seen very significant mobility in recent years, as this commentary explains.

Recent Activity

Commentaries March 2019 More Than a DREAM (Act), Less Than a Promise By Julia Gelatt	Articles March 14, 2019 Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States By Jie Zong, Jeanne Batalova, and Micayla Burrows
Multimedia March 8, 2019 Upskilling the U.S. Labor Force: Mapping the Credentials of Immigrant-Origin Workers	Articles March 7, 2019 Protection and Reintegration: Mexico Reforms Migration Agenda in an Increasingly Complex Era By Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas
Reports March 2019 Credentials for the Future: Mapping the Potential for Immigrant-Origin Adults in the United States By Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix	Multimedia February 28, 2019 Una nueva política migratoria para una nueva era: Una conversación con la Secretaria de Gobernación Olga Sánchez Cordero
Multimedia February 28, 2019 A New Migration Policy for A New Era: A Conversation with Mexico's Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero	Articles February 28, 2019 Executive Power Showdown: Congress and White House Quarrel over Immigration Spending By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Randy Capps

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Reports February 2009 Collateral Damage: An Examination of ICE's Fugitive Operations Program By Michael Wishnie, Margot Mendelson and Shayna Strom	Reports January 2009 Immigrants and the Current Economic Crisis: Research Evidence, Policy Challenges, and Implications By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Aaron Terrazas
Reports January 2009 America's Views of Immigration: The Evidence from Public Opinion Surveys By Roberto Suro	Reports December 2008 Mandatory Verification in the States: A Policy Research Agenda By Michael Fix, Doris Meissner and Randy Capps
Reports November 2008 The Growing Global Demand for Students as Skilled Migrants By Lesleyanne Hawthorne	Reports November 2008 Talent in the 21st-Century Economy By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Will Somerville and Hiroyuki Tanaka
Reports October 2008 Regulating Immigration at the State Level: Highlights from the Database of 2007 State Immigration Legislation and the Methodology By Laureen Laglagaron and Cristina Rodríguez	Reports October 2008 Demographic Trends in Mexico: The Implications for Skilled Migration By Elena Zúñiga and Miguel Molina

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Spotlight

March 20, 2015

Immigrant Women in the United States in 2013

Immigrant women constitute a varied and dynamic population in the United States with 51 percent or 21.2 million of the country's total foreign-born population. Examining key gender-based socioeconomic indicators from origin and fertility to educational attainment and immigration status, this Spotlight raises implications for sending and receiving countries, with respect to labor opportunities, family structure, gender roles, and more.

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.

Recent Activity

Commentaries

March 2019

More Than a DREAM (Act), Less Than a Promise

The first bill introduced in the 116th Congress to offer a path to legal status to DREAMers, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, could legalize nearly 2.7 million unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children, as well as those eligible for Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure, as this commentary explains.

Articles

March 14, 2019

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

Immigrant arrivals to the United States and the makeup of the foreign-born population have been changing in significant ways: Recent immigrants are more likely to be from Asia than from Mexico and the overall immigrant population is growing at a slower rate than before the 2008-09 recession. This useful article collects in one place some of the most sought-after statistics on immigrants in the United States.

Video, Audio, Webinars

March 8, 2019

Upskilling the U.S. Labor Force: Mapping the Credentials of Immigrant-Origin Workers

This webinar discusses the first-ever profile of the 30 million immigrant-origin adults in the United States who lack a postsecondary credential and offers analysis of the significant payoff credentials could bring in terms of workforce participation and wages.

Articles

March 7, 2019

Protection and Reintegration: Mexico Reforms Migration Agenda in an Increasingly Complex Era

Mexico is facing a new reality: Rising migration from Central America, the reintegration of returning migrants, and protection of Mexicans in the United States. As President Andrés Manuel López Obrador seeks to shift the country’s migration policy from enforcement to protection, his task is complicated by changing U.S. border policy and the need to avoid domestic backlash over Central American migration to and through Mexico.

Reports

March 2019

Credentials for the Future: Mapping the Potential for Immigrant-Origin Adults in the United States

As the U.S. workforce ages and the economy becomes ever more knowledge-based, policymakers face a key question: Do workers have the skills to meet tomorrow's demands? This report examines how immigrants and their children—the primary source of future labor-market growth—fit into the discussion. The report offers a first-ever profile of the 30 million immigrant-origin adults without a postsecondary credential.

Video, Audio

February 28, 2019

Una nueva política migratoria para una nueva era: Una conversación con la Secretaria de Gobernación Olga Sánchez Cordero

Durante su primera visita oficial a Washington, DC, la Secretaria de Gobierno Olga Sánchez Cordero presento un discurso público sobre la nueva política migratoria de México en el Instituto de Políticas Migratorias.

Video, Audio

February 28, 2019

A New Migration Policy for A New Era: A Conversation with Mexico's Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero

On her first official trip to Washington, DC, Secretary of the Interior Olga Sánchez Cordero offered a public address on Mexico’s new approach to migration policy at MPI. Her remarks and the event discussion were mostly conducted in Spanish, and this recording is of the simultaneous English interpretation.

Articles

February 28, 2019

Executive Power Showdown: Congress and White House Quarrel over Immigration Spending

Though a faceoff between the U.S. executive and legislative branches is now in the courts, with President Trump's decision to declare a national emergency so he can allocate more money for construction of a border wall, a less-noted dispute has been taking place over the Department of Homeland Security's decision to add thousands more immigration detention beds than Congress provides annually, as this article explains.

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