E.g., 04/23/2024
E.g., 04/23/2024
Immigration Policy & Law

Immigration Policy & Law

_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

Pages

coverthumb SIRIUS EarlySchoolLeaving
Policy Briefs
February 2015
By  Ward Nouwen, Noel Clycq and Daniela Uličná
coverthumb SIRIUS No5
Policy Briefs
February 2015
By  Rafael Berger Sacramento
coverthumb DACA Fieldwork Report
Reports
January 2015
By  Sarah Hooker, Margie McHugh and Angelo Mathay
coverthumb IOM Brief 11
Policy Briefs
December 2014
By  Guntur Sugiyarto and Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza
thumb DGOverviewPolicy2014
Reports
November 2014
By  Meghan Benton, Madeleine Sumption, Kristine Alsvik, Susan Fratzke, Christiane Kuptsch and Demetrios G. Papademetriou
coverthumb SIRIUS Language_Support
Policy Briefs
November 2014
By  Hanna Siarova and Miquel Àngel Essomba

Pages

Supporters of the DREAM Act at a September 2017 march in Los Angeles.

The Trump administration’s decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) deportation-relief program launched in 2012 has sparked new urgency to find a longer-term fix for "DREAMers," the unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children. This Policy Beat article examines movement in the courts and in Congress on the DREAM Act and similar proposals, exploring likely paths forward.

GBV UNWomen Flickr

The changing nature of conflict has brought an uptick in gender-based violence in war-torn countries, with instances of rape particularly common in conflict zones. While many women leave their countries to escape such violence, setting off on the journey is no guarantee of safety, as they are vulnerable to further gender-based abuse in transit and at destination. This article explores the rates of gender violence among refugee, asylee, and migrant women, and examines supports available to survivors in the United States.

Henna IllinoisSpringfield Flickr

Immigrants from India are the second-largest foreign-born group in the United States, after Mexicans. Indian immigrants tend to be far more highly educated and have greater English proficiency than the foreign-born population overall. This Spotlight article offers the latest data on Indian immigrants, focusing on population size, state- and city-level distribution, occupation, educational attainment, and more.

Young people ride motorcycles in Batac, Philippines.

In the Philippines, a pervasive culture of migration has led millions to seek opportunities abroad, particularly since an economic downturn in the 1970s. The government has long embraced exporting labor as official economic policy, but over time, the focus has shifted: first to protecting workers overseas and much more recently to linking migration and development. This article explores the evolution of Filipino migration policy and trends.

Agricultural workers break for lunch on a cucumber farm in Virginia.

Although President Trump has repeatedly pledged to preserve "U.S. jobs for U.S. workers," employers are increasingly relying on temporary visas as a result of labor shortages in agriculture, high tech, and beyond. This article examines the increases occurring in key temporary worker programs, affecting seasonal agricultural and nonagricultural industries, as well as high-skilled tech jobs.

Pages

2013 ChildrenImmigrants
Video, Audio
January 17, 2013

MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy convened a major public policy research symposium focused on young children of immigrants in the U.S.

MI_FormidableMachinary
Video, Audio
January 7, 2013

MPI has released a major study that describes and analyzes today’s immigration enforcement programs, as they have developed and grown in the 25 years since IRCA launched the current enforcement era.

MI_ChangingFlowsFaces
Video, Audio
December 14, 2012

The event discussion, which touched on the intersection of race and immigration, focused on the demographics of Black immigrants (both African and Caribbean) in the United States and their children, their educational success, and the implications of the recently released volume’s findings for research and public policy.

MI_RethinkingNationalIdentity
Audio
October 24, 2012

How the anti-immigrant political movement and rancorous debates surrounding immigration will impact countries’ ability to build strong economies and vibrant, diverse societies is yet to be determined. This discussion focuses on the factors and players that contribute to this environment, an analysis on the current situation in both Europe and the United States, and a discussion on its implications for community cohesion and national identity in European countries and the United States.

Three panelists in auditorium
Audio
October 1, 2012

The conference offers thoughtful, evidence-based law and policy analysis and discussion of cutting-edge immigration issues.

Pages

Recent Activity

Reports
January 2010

The enlargement of the European Union has fundamentally changed migration patterns to the United Kingdom. Since May 2004 an estimated 1.5 million workers have moved to the UK from new EU member states. This report looks at the challenges ahead as migration patterns shift across the UK.

Reports
January 2010

Mexico's efforts to help its migrants succeed in the U.S. offer a new example of an immigrant-sending country looking to improve its emigrants' lives and connect with its diaspora. This report examines Mexico's approach to its migrants and details the activities of the government's attempt to map the expanding range of its educational, health care, financial, and civic programs.

Reports
December 2009

An examination of illegal immigration's overall impact on the U.S. economy, which this report finds is negligible despite clear benefits for employers and unauthorized immigrants and slightly depressed wages for low-skilled native workers.

Reports
November 2009

This report examines existing collaborative teacher exchange programs some U.S. states and districts have established with Mexico and Spain, and identifies such programs as a relatively unexplored, yet promising strategy for alleviating endemic teacher shortages and meeting the needs of LEP students.

Video
October 28, 2009
This book release and discussion focused on the accumulation of talent and its effects on economic growth and migration trends.
Reports
October 2009

German media has helped reinforce the image of immigrants as “aliens” — sometimes even in exaggerated terms — since the first guest workers came to Germany in the 1950s. By focusing primarily on the problems associated with migration in Germany, the report shows that media have helped contribute to an atmosphere of polarization among the German public.

Reports
October 2009

What politicians say about a crisis — and the venues they choose tocommunicate with their constituents — have a disproportionate effect on the public‘s perception of that crisis. In the Netherlands, the rhetoric used by right-wing populist politicians is often more effective than that of moderates because their rhetoric conveys passion and emotion, and is more readily picked up by modern media who favor crisis and controversy.

Reports
October 2009

The size and characteristics of immigration to the UK have changed significantly. Immigrants are more numerous, more mobile, and more diverse than ever before. This report looks at the differing immigration patterns.

Pages