E.g., 10/01/2023
E.g., 10/01/2023
Border Security

Border Security

Border Enforcement
Smuggling & Trafficking
Technology & Infrastructure
CBPagent mexborder

In an era when countries are increasingly exposed to the opportunities and risks associated with the rising global movement of people, policymakers are rethinking approaches to border controls and border management. These policies and programs run the gamut—from facilitating legitimate mobility of people and trade to thwarting unauthorized movements, the latter a significant preoccupation in the post-9/11 era and as publics have become ever less accepting of unauthorized immigration. The research offered here examines the management of borders, enforcement policies and initiatives, and border security technologies.

Recent Activity

MovingBeyondPandemic-Episode6-CGDEpisodeTile
Multimedia
December 17, 2020
Could Curbing Globalization Prevent Future Pandemics?
coverthumb_rethinking regional_esp
Reports
December 2020
Construcción de un nuevo sistema migratorio regional: Redefiniendo la cooperación entre Estados Unidos con México y Centroamérica
By  Andrew Selee and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
IMAGE 17thLAPC
Multimedia
September 21, 2020
17th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference
coverthumb_rethinking regional migration
Reports
November 2020
Building a New Regional Migration System: Redefining U.S. Cooperation with Mexico and Central America
By  Andrew Selee and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
2020.11.18FLICKRDHSCHADWOLFE2
Multimedia
November 17, 2020
Mission Critical: The Evolution of U.S. Homeland Security in the 21st Century
Managing the Pandemic and Its Aftermath: Economies, Jobs, and International Migration in the Age of COVID-19
Reports
November 2020
Managing the Pandemic and Its Aftermath: Economies, Jobs, and International Migration in the Age of COVID-19
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
biden campaign 2020
Multimedia
November 9, 2020
What Is Immigration Policy Expected to Look Like in a Biden Administration?
coverthumb_biden starting gate
Policy Briefs
November 2020
At the Starting Gate: The Incoming Biden Administration’s Immigration Plans
By  Doris Meissner and Michelle Mittelstadt

Pages

cover paytogo
Reports
April 2011
Pay-to-Go Schemes and Other Noncoercive Return Programs: Is Scale Possible?
By  Richard Black, Michael Collyer and Will Somerville
cover ExecAction
Reports
March 2011
Executive Action on Immigration: Six Ways to Make the System Work Better
By  Donald M. Kerwin, Doris Meissner and Margie McHugh
cover datasharing
Reports
March 2011
Transatlantic Cooperation on Travelers' Data Processing: From Sorting Countries to Sorting Individuals
By  Paul De Hert and Rocco Bellanova
cover borderarch
Reports
March 2011
A New Architecture for Border Management
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Elizabeth Collett
cover bordermechanisms
Reports
February 2011
The Evolution of Border Controls as a Mechanism to Prevent Illegal Immigration
By  Rey Koslowski
Book cover SHM large for vi
Books
April 2010
Securing Human Mobility in the Age of Risk: New Challenges for Travel, Migration, and Borders
By  Susan Ginsburg
cover transinfoshare
Reports
January 2010
Transatlantic Information Sharing: At a Crossroads
By  Rocco Bellanova, Susan Ginsburg, Paul De Hert and Hiroyuki Tanaka
cover SherryMemo
Reports
October 2009
Memo to President Obama Regarding Immigration Policy
By  Frank Sharry

Pages

Registration of Nigerian migrants for voluntary return
Feature
January 10, 2019
An “Informal” Turn in the European Union’s Migrant Returns Policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa

The European Union's focus on formal readmission agreements with migrant-origin countries to manage the return of irregular migrants and failed asylum seekers has given way since 2016 to informal arrangements. This article explores the potential effect that nonbinding readmission pacts could have on migrant returns to sub-Saharan Africa, where return rates from EU Member States have been low.

Top10 2018 No2 AfD
Top Ten
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.

U.S. Marine secures barbed-wire fencing at the California-Mexico border.
Top Ten
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.

AfghanMotherChildUNHCR MathiasDepardon
Top Ten
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.

Sign left by No More Deaths activists in Arizona
Top Ten
December 17, 2018
Pushback to the Resistance: Criminalization of Humanitarian Actors Aiding Migrants Rises

As industrialized countries are adopting harder-edge immigration and asylum policies to deal with real and perceived crises, humanitarian actors have sought to blunt the effects of those policies by launching rescue missions at sea, rendering direct aid to migrants in need, and offering legal assistance. A concerted pushback to this resistance emerged in 2018, with governments using legislative, legal, and other tools to fight back.

Pages

archive >
Event PH 2016.2.17 Demetri at Europe Migration Crisis
Video, Audio
February 17, 2016

Europe’s Migration Crisis: A Status Report and the Way Forward

MPI's Demetrios Papademetriou discusses the current policy responses to the refugee and migration crisis at EU and national levels, and possible options for dealing more effectively with the crisis and longer-term integration challenges.

EVENT PHOTO 20155.12.14 MEXICAN FOREIGN SECRETARY2L
Video, Audio
December 15, 2015

Leadership Visions: A Discussion with Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz-Massieu

An MPI Leadership Visions discussion with the Foreign Minister of Mexico, Claudia Ruiz-Massieu, for her first public appearance in Washington, DC. 

DOD_100465612 486x274 300k
Webinars
December 11, 2015

Reception and Reintegration Services in Central America: Ending the Deportee Revolving Door

A webinar releasing a report examining deportations to Central America and reception and reintegration services in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

2015.10.29 12thAnnualLAPC keynote phot0
Video, Audio
October 29, 2015

12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

This annual discussion offered political and policy analysis on key immigration topics, including family detention, unaccompanied child migrants, executive action, and the presidential campaigns, along with featured keynotes by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.  

EVENT PH 2015.10.20
Video, Audio
October 20, 2015

What's Next for the European Asylum Crisis?

An MPI Europe video chat with the outgoing head of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) on the current EU refugee crisis, what strategies Europe ought to be pursuing in response, and the growing role of EASO as well as its track record over its first five years.

Pages

Recent Activity

Expert Q&A, Audio
December 17, 2020

Could Curbing Globalization Prevent Future Pandemics?

Pre-COVID-19, we lived in a hyper-global world. There were 1.5 billion international tourism trips annually, nearly 40 million flights, and 272 million international migrants. This raises a provocative question: Does international mobility contribute to the spread of pandemics? In this episode of Moving Beyond Pandemic, we speak with Michael Clemens and Thomas Ginn of the Center for Global Development. Drawing on their research of global pandemics dating to 1889, they make the case that limits on cross-border mobility delay the arrival of pathogens by days at best.

Reports
December 2020

Construcción de un nuevo sistema migratorio regional: Redefiniendo la cooperación entre Estados Unidos con México y Centroamérica

Un desafío y una oportunidad clave que enfrentará la administración de Joe Biden será cómo abordar la cooperación regional en relación a la migración. Este informe explora la evolución de la movilidad entre los Estados Unidos, México y Centroamérica y presenta una estrategia para ampliar las oportunidades en cuanto a la migración legal, abordar necesidades humanitarias, fortalecer la aplicación de la ley y mitigar algunas de las fuerzas que provocan la emigración.

Video, Webinars
September 21, 2020

17th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

This year’s Immigration Law and Policy Conference examines the immigration policy agenda under the Trump administration, including changes in the asylum system; the vast societal upheaval brought on by COVID-19 and the rising racial justice movement; what the future of U.S. immigration may look like; and many other topics related to U.S. immigration policy.

Reports
November 2020

Building a New Regional Migration System: Redefining U.S. Cooperation with Mexico and Central America

Addressing regional cooperation around migration will be among the immigration challenges and opportunities facing the incoming Biden administration. This report examines how movement between the United States, Mexico, and Central America has evolved in recent decades, and lays out a four-part strategy to expand opportunities for legal migration, address humanitarian protection needs, improve enforcement, and mitigate some of the forces driving people to emigrate.

Video, Audio, Webinars
November 17, 2020

Mission Critical: The Evolution of U.S. Homeland Security in the 21st Century

What does it mean to “secure the homeland” in the 21st century? And how do the Department of Homeland Security's immigration and border security missions figure into the equation? Top security experts assess DHS’s evolution and how it organizes its operations and migration management. They also offer recommendations on how to improve U.S. homeland security.
 

Reports
November 2020

Managing the Pandemic and Its Aftermath: Economies, Jobs, and International Migration in the Age of COVID-19

Around the world, governments are grappling with how to combat the COVID-19 pandemic while also managing the economic fallout of policies put in place to stop the virus’ spread. Global migration has dropped sharply amid border closures and travel restrictions. This reflection takes stock of policy responses to the pandemic thus far, and of the challenges (and some opportunities) on the horizon for migration systems, labor markets, and integration of newcomers.

Video, Expert Q&A, Audio
November 9, 2020

What Is Immigration Policy Expected to Look Like in a Biden Administration?

What actions might the incoming Biden administration take on immigration, whether to unwind some of the most restrictive Trump policies or advance an affirmative agenda of its own? And what challenges and opportunities will the Biden administration face? MPI experts analyze the campaign pledges and prospects ahead, for everything from reversing the Remain in Mexico program and cuts to legal immigration, ending border wall construction, and reviving DACA and refugee resettlement, as well as new policies such as legalization.

Policy Briefs
November 2020

At the Starting Gate: The Incoming Biden Administration’s Immigration Plans

Joe Biden pledged during his campaign to reverse some of the most restrictive immigration actions undertaken during Donald Trump’s four years in office. While some actions can be undone with the stroke of a pen, others will take more time. This policy brief outlines the incoming administration’s top immigration priorities, examines challenges and opportunities ahead, and previews MPI policy ideas that could improve the immigration system and advance the national interest.

Pages