E.g., 06/09/2023
E.g., 06/09/2023
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

Coverthumb_H 1B BrinkofReform Brief
Policy Briefs
March 2018
Evolution of the H-1B: Latest Trends in a Program on the Brink of Reform
By  Sarah Pierce and Julia Gelatt
Scaling up Refugee Resettlement in Europe
Reports
March 2018
Scaling up Refugee Resettlement in Europe: The Role of Institutional Peer Support
By  Hanne Beirens and Aliyyah Ahad
Marine naturalization
Articles
March 22, 2018
Even as Congress Remains on Sidelines, the Trump Administration Slows Legal Immigration
By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica Bolter
EVENT PHOTO 2018.3.19 Immigration Data option 2a
Multimedia
March 19, 2018
Immigration Data Matters: How to Find the Most Accurate Resources
Coverthumb DataMatters2018
Reports
November 2020
Immigration Data Matters
By  Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Michelle Mittelstadt
EVENT PHOTO 2018.3.15 LABOR STANDARDS 3
Multimedia
March 15, 2018
State and Local Labor Standards Enforcement in Immigrant-Dense Industries
FilipinaWomen RomelJacinto Flickr
Articles
March 14, 2018
Filipino Immigrants in the United States
By Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova
2018.2.28 Immigration Enforcement and Education Wilson Center co sponsor
Multimedia
February 28, 2018
The Impact of Immigration Enforcement Policies On Teaching and Learning in America’s Public Schools

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cover AmericaPublicOpinion
Reports
January 2009
America's Views of Immigration: The Evidence from Public Opinion Surveys
By  Roberto Suro
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Reports
November 2008
The Growing Global Demand for Students as Skilled Migrants
By  Lesleyanne Hawthorne
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Policy Briefs
October 2008
Managing Temporary Migration: Lessons from the Philippine Model
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza
cover 2007methodology
Reports
October 2008
Regulating Immigration at the State Level: Highlights from the Database of 2007 State Immigration Legislation and the Methodology
By  Laureen Laglagaron and Cristina Rodríguez
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Reports
October 2008
Demographic Trends in Mexico: The Implications for Skilled Migration
By  Elena Zúñiga and Miguel Molina
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Reports
October 2008
Uneven Progress: The Employment Pathways of Skilled Immigrants in the United States
By  Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix and Peter A. Creticos
cover TCM_hybridSystems
Reports
October 2008
Hybrid Immigrant-Selection Systems: The Next Generation of Economic Migration Schemes
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Will Somerville and Hiroyuki Tanaka
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Policy Briefs
September 2008
Learning by Doing: Experiences of Circular Migration
By  Kathleen Newland, Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Aaron Terrazas

Pages

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.

Feature
March 1, 2005
Promise and Prospects of the UN's Convention on Migrant Workers
MPI's Jennifer Yau explains the convention's main points and why so few countries have signed it.
Feature
August 1, 2004
U.S. Supreme Court Affirms Rights of Non-Citizen Detainees
MPI Senior Policy Analyst Muzaffar Chishti looks at the wider implications of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the rights of "enemy combatants."
Feature
June 1, 2004
Temporary Movement of Labor Fuels GATS Debate
Oonagh Sands of the Center for Strategic and International Studies tackles the Mode 4 aspect of global trade talks, under which individuals enter another country’s job market to provide services.
Feature
November 1, 2003
Germany's High Court Allows Teacher to Wear Muslim Headscarf
Veysel Oezcan of Humboldt University Berlin reports on a key ruling affecting integration, religious freedom, and educators.

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Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
March 2018

Evolution of the H-1B: Latest Trends in a Program on the Brink of Reform

Though much attention focuses on the 85,000 temporary high-skilled visas issued each April through a computer-generated lottery, in reality far more H-1B visas are awarded outside the cap. This brief takes stock of changing trends in the program, finding that the largest H-1B dependent employers pay less and hire fewer foreign workers with advanced degrees than other top users that rely less on the temporary visa.

Reports
March 2018

Scaling up Refugee Resettlement in Europe: The Role of Institutional Peer Support

With pressure mounting on EU Member States to create and scale up refugee resettlement programs, many have turned to peers in other countries for information, advice, and operational support. This report maps the many forms resettlement-focused peer-support initiatives take and discusses common stumbling blocks and strategies for policymakers and program designers looking to make the most of these critical exchanges.

Articles
March 22, 2018

Even as Congress Remains on Sidelines, the Trump Administration Slows Legal Immigration

While much attention has focused on President Trump's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, the administration has moved, via a much wider scope of actions, to reduce legal immigration to the United States. This article explores changes including slowed processing of family- and employment-based visas, dramatic cuts in refugee admissions, and heightened vetting and evidence requirements for would-be immigrants.

Video, Audio
March 19, 2018

Immigration Data Matters: How to Find the Most Accurate Resources

With immigration increasingly visible in the news and the political space in the United States and internationally, getting access to accurate, high-quality data is essential to understand immigration’s demographic effects and impacts on the economy, education and labor systems, and communities. This event marks the release of the Immigration Data Matters guide.

Reports
November 2020

Immigration Data Matters

This useful online guide links users directly to the most credible, high-quality data on immigrants and immigration in the United States and internationally. The easy-to-use guide includes more than 250 data resources compiled by governmental and nongovernmental sources, covering topics ranging from population stock and flow numbers to statistics on enforcement, public opinion, religious affiliation, and much more.

Audio
March 15, 2018

State and Local Labor Standards Enforcement in Immigrant-Dense Industries

This discussion, featuring California's Labor Commissioner and the head of the Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation, launched a report that examines state innovations in labor standards enforcement in low-wage, immigrant-dense industries. With wage underpayment, payroll fraud, and other violations widespread in industries such as construction and car-washing, the discussion focused on how targeted enforcement can deter practices that hurt native-born and immigrant workers alike, cost state tax revenue, and disadvantage law-abiding employers. 

Articles
March 14, 2018

Filipino Immigrants in the United States

More than 1.9 million Filipinos lived in the United States in 2016, making them the fourth-largest immigrant group. Compared to the foreign-born population overall, Filipinos are more likely to get green cards through family immigration channels and have higher education and naturalization rates. This Spotlight offers key information on Filipinos' demographics, employment, geographic distribution, health coverage, and more.

Video
February 28, 2018

The Impact of Immigration Enforcement Policies On Teaching and Learning in America’s Public Schools

In an era of stepped-up immigration enforcement, speakers at this event present their research on the impact of enforcement policies on children from immigrant families and U.S. public schools. 

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