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

Articles September 26, 2018 Trump Administration’s New Indefinite Family Detention Policy: Deterrence Not Guaranteed By Muzaffar Chishti and Sarah Pierce	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
Multimedia September 12, 2018 Making the Global Compact on Migration a Reality: Ideas for Enhancing Regular Migration Pathways at All Skill Levels	Multimedia September 5, 2018 Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration
Policy Briefs September 2018 Reimagining Skilled Migration Partnerships to Support Development By Kate Hooper	Fact Sheets August 2018 English Learners in Select States: Demographics, Outcomes, and State Accountability Policies By Julie Sugarman and Courtney Geary
Articles August 29, 2018 El Salvador: Civil War, Natural Disasters, and Gang Violence Drive Migration By Cecilia Menjívar and Andrea Gómez Cervantes	Commentaries August 2018 Through the Back Door: Remaking the Immigration System via the Expected “Public-Charge” Rule By Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and Mark Greenberg

Pages

Policy Briefs September 2008 High Stakes, More Meaning: An Overview of the Process of Redesigning the U.S. Citizenship Test By Laureen Laglagaron	Policy Briefs September 2008 Learning by Doing: Experiences of Circular Migration By Kathleen Newland, Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Aaron Terrazas
Reports April 2008 Stakeholder Citizenship: An Idea Whose Time Has Come? By Rainer Bauböck	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

Pages

Feature

May 18, 2007

Selecting Economic Stream Immigrants through Points Systems

The U.S. Congress is considering a bill that includes a points system for permanent immigration. MPI's Demetrios G. Papademetriou outlines how points systems work, which countries have used them, their political benefits, and trends in points-system use.

Feature

March 1, 2007

Women Migrants in Transit and Detention in Mexico

Since 2000, Mexico has further intensified efforts to detain and deport irregular migrants. Gabriela Diaz and Gretchen Kuhner investigate the experiences of women migrants, the majority of them from Latin America, who have been detained in Mexico en route to the United States.

Feature

January 1, 2007

EU Enlargement in 2007: No Warm Welcome for Labor Migrants

The addition of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union means another round of anxieties about labor migrants. Catherine Drew and Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah of the Institute for Public Policy Research in London explain how this enlargement is different from the historic one in 2004 and why most EU Member States favor temporary restriction.

Feature

May 1, 2006

American Immigration Reform from a Scandinavian Perspective

After watching the immigration reform debate intensify in the last few months, Thor Arne Aaas, Norway's Director General of the Department of Migration and a Visiting Fellow at MPI, characterizes the debate as "unfocused, unstructured, and very emotional." More on his views in this interview with Migration Information Source Editor Kirin Kalia.

Feature

May 1, 2006

Immigration Reform and the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church made headlines in March when of its U.S. cardinals spoke out against the House of Representatives' "enforcement only" bill. Donald Kerwin of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network explains the church's interest in immigration and its position on reforming immigration policy.

Recent Activity

Articles

September 26, 2018

Trump Administration’s New Indefinite Family Detention Policy: Deterrence Not Guaranteed

As the Trump administration moves to be able to indefinitely detain parents and children intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border, whether illegal border crossers or asylum seekers, recent apprehension trends and history suggest hardline policies might not be a slam-dunk deterrent with a Central American population often driven by the desire to escape gang or other violence, as this Policy Beat explores.

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, Audio, Webinars

September 12, 2018

Making the Global Compact on Migration a Reality: Ideas for Enhancing Regular Migration Pathways at All Skill Levels

As the final phase of preparations for the historic adoption of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration approaches, this webinar explores two central objectives of the compact: enhancing the availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration, and investing in skills development.

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.

Policy Briefs

September 2018

Reimagining Skilled Migration Partnerships to Support Development

While partnerships to facilitate skilled migration have had mixed success in the past, the Global Compact for Migration is advancing a new approach that may change this. This policy brief compares this new partnership model with the traditional one, highlighting the questions policymakers will need to answer if they are to encourage mobility, sustain employer engagement, and see development benefits in countries of origin.

Fact Sheets

August 2018

English Learners in Select States: Demographics, Outcomes, and State Accountability Policies

States are in the midst of designing new policies to hold schools accountable for the education of English Learner (EL) students, as mandated by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This series of fact sheets sketches the characteristics of immigrant and EL students in 25 states, the gaps between their educational outcomes and those of their peers, and the accountability policies each state is developing.

Articles

August 29, 2018

El Salvador: Civil War, Natural Disasters, and Gang Violence Drive Migration

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America yet the most densely populated. A stagnant economy, high levels of crime and violence, and natural disasters have pushed growing numbers of people to migrate without authorization or seek asylum abroad, mostly in the United States. This article explores historical and contemporary emigration from El Salvador.

Commentaries

August 2018

Through the Back Door: Remaking the Immigration System via the Expected “Public-Charge” Rule

A Trump administration “public-charge” rule expected to be unveiled soon could create the potential to significantly reshape family-based legal immigration to the United States—and reduce arrivals from Asia, Latin America, and Africa—by imposing a de facto financial test that 40 percent of the U.S. born themselves would fail, as this commentary explains.

Programs

Topics see all >

Regions see all >

Data

Featured Publication

Programs

You are here

Immigration Policy & Law

Recent Activity

Pages

Pages

Pages

Recent Activity

Pages