Immigration Policy & Law

Immigration legislative and administrative policies, legal statutes and court decisions, and regulations collectively shape nations' immigration systems—from visa allotments and immigrant-selection mechanisms to immigrant integration programs, border controls, and more. As international migration has increased in size and spread and as a number of nations are more flexibly adjusting their immigration systems, the research offered here examines the many permutations of immigration policy and law, often with a comparative lens.

Recent Activity

Reports June 2018 The Growth of the Radical Right in Nordic Countries: Observations from the Past 20 Years By Anders Widfeldt	Reports June 2018 After the Storm: Learning from the EU Response to the Migration Crisis By Elizabeth Collett and Camille Le Coz
Commentaries June 2018 Europe Pushes to Outsource Asylum, Again By Elizabeth Collett and Susan Fratzke	Commentaries June 2018 Far from a Retreat, the Trump Administration’s Border Policies Advance its Enforcement Aims By Sarah Pierce
Commentaries June 2018 A Narrower Path in the House for Most DREAMers By Julia Gelatt and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto	Commentaries June 2018 House Bills Would Largely Dismantle Asylum System at U.S.-Mexico Border By Jessica Bolter and Sarah Pierce
Multimedia June 12, 2018 Chilling Effects: The Expected Public-Charge Rule and Its Impact on Immigrant Families	Reports June 2018 Chilling Effects: The Expected Public Charge Rule and Its Impact on Legal Immigrant Families’ Public Benefits Use By Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and Mark Greenberg

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Reports April 2008 The Complexities of Immigration: Why Western Countries Struggle with Immigration Politics and Policies By Jennifer Hochschild and John Mollenkopf	Reports April 2008 A New Citizenship Bargain for the Age of Mobility? Citizenship Requirements in Europe and North America By Randall Hansen
Reports April 2008 Delivering Citizenship (Transatlantic Council Statement) By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Annette Heuser and Hans Martens	Reports April 2008 Dual Citizenship in the Age of Mobility By Thomas Faist and Jürgen Gerdes
Reports April 2008 Local Voting Rights for Non-Nationals in Europe: What We Know and What We Need to Learn By Kees Groenendijk	Fact Sheets February 2008 Behind the Naturalization Backlog: Causes, Context and Concerns By Claire Bergeron
Reports December 2007 Testing the Limits: A Framework for Assessing the Legality of State and Local Immigration Measures By Cristina Rodríguez , Muzaffar Chishti and Kimberly Nortman	Fact Sheets December 2007 Europe's Disappearing Internal Borders By Hiroyuki Tanaka

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Feature

September 1, 2005

Regularizing Immigrants in Spain: A New Approach

Spain’s latest regularization program, unlike in the past, is part of a more comprehensive approach to combating illegal immigration and employment. Joaquín Arango of Complutense University of Madrid and Maia Jachimowicz outline the program and provide some preliminary results.

Feature

September 1, 2005

Why Countries Continue to Consider Regularization

Over the past 25 years, regularization programs have become more common. Amanda Levinson explains their challenges, their outcomes, and why governments choose such programs.

Feature

April 1, 2005

Domestic Workers: Little Protection for the Underpaid

An ILO study of Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates highlights the special risks of domestic work for women. Gloria Moreno-Fontes Chammartin discusses the findings and implications.

Feature

March 1, 2005

Human Rights Strengthen Migration Policy Framework

Monette Zard of the International Council on Human Rights Policy presents human rights as a tool for empowering migrants, reframing migration debates, and holding states accountable.

Feature

March 1, 2005

Biometrics, Migrants, and Human Rights

Rebekah Alys Lowri Thomas of the Global Commission on International Migration examines how the use of biometrics at borders may violate migrants' privacy rights.

Recent Activity

Reports

June 2018

The Growth of the Radical Right in Nordic Countries: Observations from the Past 20 Years

Though hardly new to most Nordic countries, radical-right parties have grown in popular support and political power in recent years. This report analyzes the role immigration has played in their rise and recent electoral fortunes in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It also examines the strategies other parties have adopted in an attempt to limit their growth.

Reports

June 2018

After the Storm: Learning from the EU Response to the Migration Crisis

As maritime arrivals climbed in 2015, EU policymakers struggled to mount a coordinated response. A range of ad hoc crisis-response tools emerged, but many officials worry that if another migration emergency were to hit Europe, the European Union may still be unprepared. This report traces the evolution of the EU response to the 2015–16 crisis and lays out recommendations to lock in progress and shore up weaknesses.

Commentaries

June 2018

Europe Pushes to Outsource Asylum, Again

European leaders have settled on a recurring proposition to address the ongoing political crisis on migration: the creation of asylum processing centers beyond EU borders. The plans championed by various EU leaders are diverse, the details fuzzy. What they have in common is a near-universal focus on shifting responsibility for dealing with refugees and migrants upstream, as this commentary examines.

Commentaries

June 2018

Far from a Retreat, the Trump Administration’s Border Policies Advance its Enforcement Aims

Even as some pundits assess President Trump's temporary end to family separation as a defeat, the deeper reality is being lost: The administration’s plan to detain all asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, including families, is now on its way to completion. The “catch-and-release” that Donald Trump rails against is, at least in part, effectively over for now, though the price tag is a long way from being tallied, as this commentary explains.

Commentaries

June 2018

A Narrower Path in the House for Most DREAMers

In exchange for resolving the status of DREAMers, the White House and its congressional allies are demanding billions of dollars for a border wall and additional enforcement, sharp limits on asylum, cuts to legal immigration, and more. But what would the two bills expected to be voted on by the House do in terms of extending temporary or permanent status to DREAMers? This commentary offers estimates.

Commentaries

June 2018

House Bills Would Largely Dismantle Asylum System at U.S.-Mexico Border

The House is set to vote on two bills that would largely dismantle the U.S. asylum system at the southern border by significantly narrowing grounds to apply for asylum, eliminating protections for the vast majority of unaccompanied minors, and unilaterally declaring Mexico a safe third country. The result would be a sharp reduction in the number of people permitted to seek humanitarian protection, as this commentary explains.

Video, Audio, Webinars

June 12, 2018

Chilling Effects: The Expected Public-Charge Rule and Its Impact on Immigrant Families

This webinar highlights findings from an MPI report examining the potential impacts of expected changes to the public charge rule by the Trump administration. Leaked draft versions suggest the rule could sharply expand the number of legally present noncitizens facing difficulty getting a green card or extending a visa as a result of their family's use of public benefits. The rule likely would discourage millions from accessing health, nutrition, and social services for which they or their U.S.-citizen dependents are eligible.

Reports

June 2018

Chilling Effects: The Expected Public Charge Rule and Its Impact on Legal Immigrant Families’ Public Benefits Use

According to leaked drafts, the Trump administration is considering a rule that could have sweeping effects on both legal immigration to the United States and the use of public benefits by legal immigrants and their families. This report examines the potential scale of the expected rule’s impact, including at national and state levels and among children, as well as Hispanic and Asian American/Pacific Islander immigrants.

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