E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
Immigration Policy & Law

Immigration Policy & Law

Civil Liberties
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
DREAM Act/Deferred Action
Employment-Based Immigration
Family Reunification
Integration Policy
International Students
Legalization/Regularization
Selection Systems
Visa Policy
_ImmigrationPolicy+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

Outside of the Justice Department building
Articles
October 3, 2019
Crisis in the Courts: Is the Backlogged U.S. Immigration Court System at Its Breaking Point?
By Marissa Esthimer
Felipe Munoz at Migration Policy Institute Event
Multimedia
September 27, 2019
The Colombian Response to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis: A Dialogue with Colombia’s Migration Czar
An apprehended migrant sits in a truck with his hands in his face
Articles
September 25, 2019
Supreme Court Asylum Ruling Latest Sign Judiciary Is Not the Brake on the Trump Administration that Immigration-Rights Activists Sought
By Muzaffar Chishti and Jessica Bolter
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Reports
September 2019
Invertir en el vecindario: Cambios en los patrones de migración entre México y Estados Unidos y oportunidades para una cooperación sostenible
By  Andrew Selee, Silvia E. Giorguli-Saucedo, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto and Claudia Masferrer
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Reports
September 2019
Investing in the Neighborhood: Changing Mexico-U.S. Migration Patterns and Opportunities for Sustainable Cooperation
By  Andrew Selee, Silvia E. Giorguli-Saucedo, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto and Claudia Masferrer
Coverthumb MPIE Brexit OnTheBrink
Policy Briefs
September 2019
On the Brink: Prospects for UK Nationals in the EU-27 after a No-Deal Brexit
By  Meghan Benton and Aliyyah Ahad
An older man and woman stand in front of an apartment building
Articles
September 19, 2019
Years After Crimea’s Annexation, Integration of Ukraine’s Internally Displaced Population Remains Uneven
By Marta Jaroszewicz
People pass by flowers laying on a street
Articles
September 5, 2019
The Multicultural Dilemma: Amid Rising Diversity and Unsettled Equity Issues, New Zealand Seeks to Address Its Past and Present
By Rachel Simon-Kumar

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Reports
May 2012
Profile of Immigrants in Napa County
By  Randy Capps, Kristen McCabe and Michael Fix
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Reports
May 2012
The Relationship Between Immigration and Nativism in Europe and North America
By  Cas Mudde
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Reports
May 2012
French National Identity and Integration: Who Belongs to the National Community?
By  Patrick Simon
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Policy Briefs
May 2012
Labour Migration from Colombo Process Countries: Good Practices, Challenges and Ways Forward
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Christine Aghazarm
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Books
April 2012
Hoja de ruta para la participación de las diásporas en el desarrollo: Un manual para políticos y profesionales de los países de origen y de acogida
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland
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Books
April 2012
Comment associer les diasporas au développement: Manuel a l’usage des decideurs et praticiens dans les pays d’origine et d’accueil
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Kathleen Newland
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Reports
April 2012
A Demographic Profile of Black Caribbean Immigrants in the United States
By  Kevin J. A. Thomas
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Reports
April 2012
Diverse Streams: African Migration to the United States
By  Randy Capps, Kristen McCabe and Michael Fix

Pages

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Top Ten
December 16, 2015
White House Uses Many Levers of Power to Effect Change as Obama and Congress Remain Deadlocked on Immigration

President Obama actively utilized the powers of the executive to reshape U.S. immigration policy in 2015. From signature deportation relief programs and changes to visa waiver eligibility to new grants of Temporary Protected Status and revised enforcement priorities, the administration made sweeping changes that touch all aspects of U.S. immigration policy. The actions prompted pushback, however, with 26 states suing to halt implementation of new deferred action programs.

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Top Ten
December 14, 2015
Governments Increasingly Restrict Citizenship

Citizenship came under fire in new ways around the world in 2015, with attempts to both restrict who is eligible to become a citizen and who can be deprived of citizenship. Driven by fears of international terrorism, a number of countries proposed or passed legislation making it easier to narrow citizenship and broadening the range of offenses for which individuals can be stripped of their citizenship.

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Top Ten
December 9, 2015
A Shared Challenge: Europe and the United States Confront Significant Flows of Unaccompanied Child Migrants

Child migrants traveling alone to Europe or the United States face similar dangers and are particularly at risk of abuse and trafficking. The arrival of tens of thousands of such children in Europe and the United States have overwhelmed accommodations as well as legal and integration processes. Furthermore, the unprecedented flows have sparked heated public debate in a number of cities.

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Top Ten
December 7, 2015
Shine Wears Off Investor Visa Programs as Questions about Economic Benefits and Fraud Lead to Reforms

A number of countries in 2015 redesigned their immigrant investor visa programs in response to questions about their economic benefits or allegations of fraud. The reforms have in some cases made such programs far more costly and encouraged investment in higher-risk assets. Applications for such visas have fallen signficantly in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as policymakers may have overestimated demand.

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Feature
November 18, 2015
Immigrants in the Smart City: The Potential of City Digital Strategies to Facilitate Immigrant Integration

The digital era offers opportunities for cities to improve access and outreach to residents, including immigrants and minority groups, through online tools and apps. This feature article explores ditigal-inclusion strategies in "smart" cities New York, London, and Barcelona, as well as the creative use of new technologies in response to the European refugee crisis.

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Recent Activity

Explainers
April 2019

Explainer: How the U.S. Legal Immigration System Works

Through which visa categories can immigrants move temporarily or permanently to the United States? What are the main channels by which people come, and who can sponsor them for a green card? Are there limits on visa categories? And who is waiting in the green-card backlog? This explainer answers basic questions about temporary and permanent immigration via family, employment, humanitarian, and other channels.

Articles
April 25, 2019

Despite Flurry of Actions, Trump Administration Faces Constraints in Achieving Its Immigration Agenda

Though it has achieved success in some areas, the Trump administration’s many efforts to stiffen immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior and at the Southwest border are being consistently stymied by court injunctions, existing laws and settlements, state and local resistance, congressional pushback, and migration pressures that are beyond the government’s ability to swiftly address, as this article explores.

Video, Audio, Webinars
April 23, 2019

Children of Immigrants and Child Welfare Systems: Key Policy and Practice

Marking the release of an MPI report, this webinar examines what the growing intersection between U.S. immigration and child welfare systems means for protection agencies. Speakers also discuss promising child welfare policies and agency approaches to address the needs of children of immigrants and their families amid demographic change and rising immigration enforcement.

Reports
April 2019

The Canadian Express Entry System for Selecting Economic Immigrants: Progress and Persistent Challenges

Since its launch in 2015, the Express Entry system has changed how economic immigration to Canada happens and how it fits into public and political debates. And while it has proven successful in cutting through application backlogs, some challenges remain. This report looks at how and why this points-based system was introduced, what its impact has been, and how it could be further finetuned.

Fact Sheets
April 2019

How Many Unauthorized Immigrants Graduate from U.S. High Schools Annually?

A high school diploma has been a core requirement of proposed DREAM Act legislation and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Yet a fresh estimate of the number of unauthorized immigrants graduating annually from U.S. high schools has long been missing from the debate. This fact sheet provides up-to-date estimates for the United States and top 15 states, estimating 98,000 such students graduate yearly.

Reports
April 2019

Immigrant Families and Child Welfare Systems: Emerging Needs and Promising Policies

With the children of immigrants a growing share of all U.S. children, and federal immigration enforcement and other policies undergoing significant change, some state and local child welfare agencies are developing new ways to improve how they work with immigrant families. This report examines key cultural, linguistic, and legal challenges, and how agencies are adjusting staffing, training, placement, and other policies to tackle them.

Video, Audio
April 16, 2019

Is U.S.-Mexico Cooperation on Migration Possible?

Over recent months, the number of Central American migrants apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border has surged, presenting a critical challenge in the relationship between the two neighboring countries. Experts from a Study Group on U.S.-Mexico Migration convened by El Colegio de México and MPI discuss current trends, policies, and politics surrounding migration from the Northern Triangle of Central America and the U.S.-Mexico relationship, ways to improve U.S. and Mexican asylum systems, possible new approaches to labor migration, ways to address smuggling networks, and modernize border management.

Articles
April 18, 2019

“Us” or “Them”? How Policies, Public Opinion, and Political Rhetoric Affect Immigrants’ Sense of Belonging

Citizenship and integration policies are often thought of as markers for whether a country is welcoming to immigrants. Yet research suggests that public opinion and political rhetoric play a bigger role in immigrants' sense of belonging. This article explores how boundaries between "us" and "them" are drawn through popular conceptions of nationhood and political rhetoric, and their impact on immigrants' belonging.

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