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 July 2018 The Impact of Populist Radical-Right Parties on Immigration Policy Agendas: A Look at the Netherlands By Tjitske Akkerman	Articles June 29, 2018 In Upholding Travel Ban, Supreme Court Endorses Presidential Authority While Leaving Door Open for Future Challenges By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Laura Plata
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

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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	Reports April 2008 Los Angeles on the Leading Edge: Immigrant Integration Indicators and their Policy Implications By Michael Fix, Margie McHugh, Aaron Terrazas and Laureen Laglagaron
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

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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

September 1, 2005

Solving the Unauthorized Migrant Problem: Proposed Legislation in the U.S.

In the most recent session of Congress, four legislative proposals addressing unauthorized immigration and general immigration reform have been introduced. MPI's Eliot Turner and Marc R. Rosenblum compare their provisions for enforcement, employer sanctions, legalization, and guest worker 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.

Recent Activity

Reports

July 2018

The Impact of Populist Radical-Right Parties on Immigration Policy Agendas: A Look at the Netherlands

While commentators proclaimed the 2017 Dutch election results a rebuff of radical-right populism, this report makes clear that electoral success is not the only way to influence policymaking. Taking the Netherlands as a case study, it examines how radical-right parties in Western Europe have shaped immigration policy agendas and outcomes by rewriting narratives and forcing mainstream parties further to the right.

Articles

June 29, 2018

In Upholding Travel Ban, Supreme Court Endorses Presidential Authority While Leaving Door Open for Future Challenges

Though the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a major victory by upholding its much-contested travel ban, less noted has been the fact that the ruling left an opening for future challenges to the policy of barring groups of foreign nationals from the country. This Policy Beat explores the evolution of the travel ban, the justices' arguments for and against, and changes in visa grants from travel-ban countries.

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.

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