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

Cover image for How Immigrants and Their U.S.-Born Children Fit into the Future U.S. Labor Market
Reports
April 2024
How Immigrants and Their U.S.-Born Children Fit into the Future U.S. Labor Market
By  Jeanne Batalova, Julia Gelatt and Michael Fix
A returned migrant with his family in Bangladesh
Articles
April 19, 2024
Bangladesh’s Economic Vitality Owes in Part to Migration and Remittances
By Khandaker Mursheda Farhana and Kazi Abdul Mannan
Cover image for Supporting Self-Sufficiency policy brief
Policy Briefs
April 2024
Supporting Self-Sufficiency: Considerations for Refugees’ Transition out of Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways Programs
By  Maria Belen Zanzuchi
Flags of South American countries.
Articles
April 11, 2024
South American Immigrants in the United States
By Julian Montalvo and Jeanne Batalova
People walk through the streets of Hong Kong
Articles
April 3, 2024
Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Hong Kong’s Population Shuffle
By Yiran Yu
Image of female worker at the Boqueria market in Barcelona making a crepe
Commentaries
March 2024
As Europe and the United States Face Similar Migration Challenges, Spain Can Act as a Bridge
By  Anna Terrón Cusí and Andrew Selee
Housing construction site in California.
Articles
March 20, 2024
Global Affordable Housing Shortages Can Harm Migrant Reception and Integration
By Benedicta Solf, Lindsey Guerrero, and Selena Sherzad
A naturalization ceremony at the White House.
Articles
March 13, 2024
Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States
By Jeanne Batalova

Pages

Cover image for How Immigrants and Their U.S.-Born Children Fit into the Future U.S. Labor Market
Reports
April 2024
How Immigrants and Their U.S.-Born Children Fit into the Future U.S. Labor Market
By  Jeanne Batalova, Julia Gelatt and Michael Fix
Cover image for Supporting Self-Sufficiency policy brief
Policy Briefs
April 2024
Supporting Self-Sufficiency: Considerations for Refugees’ Transition out of Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways Programs
By  Maria Belen Zanzuchi
Cover image for Lessons from COVID-19
Policy Briefs
March 2024
Lessons from COVID-19: Managing Borders in the Next Global Public-Health Crisis
By  Meghan Benton and Lawrence Huang
Cover image for Mobility Shutdown
Reports
March 2024
Mobility Shutdown: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in Asia and the Pacific
By  Lawrence Huang
Cover image for Diverging Paths
Reports
March 2024
Diverging Paths: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in the Middle East and North Africa
By  Samuel Davidoff-Gore
Cover image for Converging Crises
Reports
March 2024
Converging Crises: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in South America
By  Luisa Feline Freier, Andrea Kvietok and Leon Lucar Oba
Cover image for Coordination Breakdown
Reports
March 2024
Coordination Breakdown: The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migration in Europe
By  Frey Lindsay
Cover image for A New Way Forward for Employment-Based Immigration
Policy Briefs
February 2024
A New Way Forward for Employment-Based Immigration: The Bridge Visa
By  Julia Gelatt and Muzaffar Chishti

Pages

A returned migrant with his family in Bangladesh
Profile
April 19, 2024
Bangladesh’s Economic Vitality Owes in Part to Migration and Remittances

For a young country, Bangladesh has a complex migration history, with periods of forced migration during the partition of India and Pakistan as well as the 1971 war of independence. In recent years, labor emigration has proved a major economic boon to the country. This country profile reviews trends and the impact of emigration, with a particular focus on the effects of remittance sending and receipt.

Flags of South American countries.
Spotlight
April 11, 2024
South American Immigrants in the United States

The South American immigrant population in the United States has grown at a faster rate than that of the overall foreign-born population, amid crises in Venezuela, Colombia, and elsewhere. Yet South Americans still account for only about one in ten U.S. immigrants. While they mirror the overall U.S. immigrant population in several demographic characteristics, there are some notable differences, as this article details.

People walk through the streets of Hong Kong
Feature
April 3, 2024
Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Hong Kong’s Population Shuffle

Hong Kong finds itself in the middle of opposing trends. Amid political unrest, Beijing's increasing security pressure, and pandemic disruptions, many Hong Kongers have left and been replaced by a new group of immigrants, largely from mainland China. The dynamic has raised questions whether Hong Kong will remain a global cosmopolitan hub or instead turn inward to Asia, as this article discusses.

Housing construction site in California.
Feature
March 20, 2024
Global Affordable Housing Shortages Can Harm Migrant Reception and Integration

One-fifth of the planet lacks adequate housing. That scarcity, expected to affect 3 billion people by 2030, is a problem for native-born and immigrant communities alike. The global housing shortage can aggravate tensions over immigration and lead to integration challenges for new arrivals, as this article details.

A naturalization ceremony at the White House.
Spotlight
March 13, 2024
Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

Immigration touches on many facets of life in the United States. Get the facts with this useful resource, which compiles in one place answers to some of the most often-asked questions about immigration and immigrants in the United States now and historically. This article contains essential data on the immigrant population, immigration levels, trends in immigration enforcement, and much more.

Pages

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Image of female worker at the Boqueria market in Barcelona making a crepe
Commentaries
March 2024
As Europe and the United States Face Similar Migration Challenges, Spain Can Act as a Bridge
By  Anna Terrón Cusí and Andrew Selee
Image of EU and Member State flags flapping in wind
Commentaries
December 2023
One Phase Closes for the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Now Another Begins
By  Hanne Beirens and Camille Le Coz
Aerial photo of the U.S. Capitol
Commentaries
November 2023
The U.S.-Mexico Border Problem Will Not Be “Solved” Until All Parts of the Border Enforcement System Are Properly Resourced
By  Doris Meissner
A Haitian child looks over his mother's shoulder in Panama
Commentaries
October 2023
Addressing the Next Displacement Crisis in the Making in the Americas
By  Valerie Lacarte
President Biden meets with DACA recipients
Commentaries
September 2023
A Shrinking Number of DACA Participants Face Yet Another Adverse Court Ruling
By  Ariel G. Ruiz Soto and Julia Gelatt
Group of students studying at a library
Commentaries
August 2023
Investing in the Future: Higher Ed Should Give Greater Focus to Growing Immigrant-Origin Student Population
By  Jeanne Batalova and Miriam Feldblum
Graphic image of man's hand touching screen with word skills
Commentaries
July 2023
Canada's New Tech Talent Strategy Takes Aim at High-Skilled Immigrants in the United States
By  Kate Hooper, Jeanne Batalova and Julia Gelatt
Photo of a mural at Las Americas, a legal assistance nonprofit in El Paso, Texas
Commentaries
May 2023
Regional Processing Centers: Can This Key Component of the Post-Title 42 U.S. Strategy Work?
By  Andrew Selee
Photo of a teacher from Ukraine organizing activities for refugee children in Moldova
Commentaries
February 2023
Prolonged Ukrainian Displacement: An Uneasy Marriage of Reception, Integration, and Return Policies
By  Hanne Beirens, Lucía Salgado and Jasmijn Slootjes
Photo of a preschool teacher reading to students.
Commentaries
November 2022
Apprenticeship Programs Are a Promising Solution to Bring More Multilingual Workers into Early Childhood Field
By  Jacob Hofstetter, Alexis Fintland and Maki Park

Pages

Explainer_LegalImmigrationSystem Legal Immigration Pie_small
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.

Explainer WhoIsAnImmigrant Rotator
Explainers
February 2019

Explainer: Who Is An Immigrant?

Who is an immigrant? Does that status change if, for example, a foreigner marries a native-born resident or serves in his or her adopted country's military? This explainer answers basic questions about international migrants—who they are, their top destinations, where they come from, how they are counted, and more.

Expert Q&A, Audio
January 24, 2024

Are the Pacific’s Climate Migration Experiments a Preview for the World?

What can the rest of the world learn from climate migration legal experiments in the Pacific? This episode of the Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast features insights from renowned legal scholar Jane McAdam, who directs the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW.

Video, Audio
November 30, 2023

The Importance of Community Consultations in the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Network

Coordination and communication among key stakeholders in the resettlement network have never been more critical. This conversation focuses on how consultation supports capacity building and where it can, at times, fall short.

Video, Audio
November 14, 2023

Engaging Local Voices: Letting Cities Inform National Refugee Resettlement Goals

With the Global Refugee Forum approaching, this webcast explores how municipalities and other key stakeholders can be engaged in informing and delivering on the 2024 resettlement and complementary pathways pledges. 

Expert Q&A, Audio
October 27, 2023

Is Climate Migration a Homeland Security Threat?

Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff talks about the security implications of climate change and migration in this episode of the podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration.

Video, Audio
October 11, 2023

Improving Language Access in Federal Programs: What Is the State of Play?

White House and Department of Health and Human Services officials join a leading language access advocate and MPI's Margie McHugh in a conversation exploring executive-branch efforts related to language access provision, upcoming actions, and opportunities to improve the provision of information and services in languages other than English in federal programs.

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Recent Activity

Articles
May 16, 2019

Immigrant Veterans in the United States

Approximately 530,000 foreign-born veterans of the U.S. armed forces resided in the United States in 2018, accounting for 3 percent of the 18.6 million veterans nationwide. Immigrant veterans tend to have higher education levels and household incomes compared to native-born veterans, and the vast majority are naturalized citizens, as this data-rich article explores.

Video, Audio, Webinars
May 9, 2019

A Mirror for the Nation? The Changing Profile of Mexican Immigrants in Texas

At this discussion, experts from MPI and Southern Methodist University’s Texas-Mexico Center offer an overview of trends and key characteristics of highly skilled Mexican adults at the national level and for Texas, including educational levels by legal status and top industries of employment across Texas metro areas. They also discuss the policy implications of these findings.

Articles
May 8, 2019

Can Return Migration Revitalize the Baltics? Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania Engage Their Diasporas, with Mixed Results

Faced with high emigration rates and shrinking, aging populations, the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—are exploring different ways to lure back nationals who have emigrated and establish or solidify ties with members of the diaspora. Of the three countries, Estonia is proving the most successful, while Latvia appears to be ignoring the looming demographic crisis and lacks an immigration plan.

Reports
May 2019

Immigration-Related Policy Changes in the First Two Years of the Trump Administration

In the two years since President Trump entered office, U.S. immigration policy has changed in many ways. Some actions have received significant media attention and public scrutiny, and others have been implemented with little fanfare. This document chronicles these wide-reaching policy changes, covering immigration enforcement, the immigration courts, humanitarian admissions, visa processing, and more.

Reports
May 2019

Eight Key U.S. Immigration Policy Issues: State of Play and Unanswered Questions

Amid a significant reshaping of immigration policy by the Trump administration, a range of immigration topics that have not been at the forefront of debate merit further information sharing with the public and policymakers. This report examines eight issues areas that are deserving of additional review and could form the basis for future action by Congress, including H-1B reform and treatment of unaccompanied minors.

Articles
May 1, 2019

Migration in the Netherlands: Rhetoric and Perceived Reality Challenge Dutch Tolerance

The Netherlands has witnessed a rise in far-right populism, challenging its reputation as a humanitarian haven. Yet, public fears equating immigration with a rise in religious extremism do not necessarily reflect the facts. This profile explores historical and contemporary migration in a country where population growth relies largely on immigration, and analyzes to what extent policymaking has been shaped by rising populism.

Reports
May 2019

Preparing for the Unknown: Designing Effective Predeparture Orientation for Resettling Refugees

Refugees encounter a range of challenges after resettlement—from adjusting to a new culture and language, to finding a job. Many resettlement countries invest in predeparture orientation to help refugees develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to face these challenges. This report explores the many forms these programs take, highlighting important design questions and key elements that effective programs share.

Reports
April 2019

The Unintended Consequences for English Learners of Using the Four-Year Graduation Rate for School Accountability

High school graduation is a landmark event for students. It also plays an important role in the state accountability systems designed to ensure that schools provide all students a high-quality education. Yet relying on a school's four-year graduation rate for federal accountability purposes can have unintended consequences for English Learners, who may need extra time to graduate.

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