E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
North America

North America

United States
Canada
Mexico

North America is a dynamic migration region, with the United States home to more immigrants than any other country in the world, the Mexico-U.S. corridor the globe's top migration corridor, and Canada a leading destination for migrants. Research collected here focuses on everything from visa policy and border management to immigrant integration, national identity, the demographics of immigrants in the region and their educational and workforce outcomes, and ways to more effectively use migration policy as a lever for national and regional competitiveness.

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Commentaries

Canada's New Tech Talent Strategy Takes Aim at High-Skilled Immigrants in the United States

Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy is highly unusual for its explicit targeting of visa holders in another country. Opening a dedicated stream specifically for high-skilled immigrants in the United States who hold an H-1B visa is the latest salvo in a growing global competition for talent—one in which some countries are racing ahead of the United States in terms of policy dynamism, as this commentary explores.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other leaders at the 2022 Summit of the Americas
Commentaries

The Los Angeles Declaration Could Represent a Big Step for Real Migration Cooperation across the Americas

The Los Angeles Agreement on Migration and Protection signed by leaders from 20 countries across the Western Hemisphere at the 2022 Summit of the Americas marks a significant step forward in creating a common language and a coherent set of ideas for more cooperatively managing migration movements across a region that has seen very significant mobility in recent years, as this commentary explains.

Recent Activity

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Reports
December 2015
Stopping the Revolving Door: Reception and Reintegration Services for Central American Deportees
By  Victoria Rietig and Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas
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Articles
December 7, 2015
Shine Wears Off Investor Visa Programs as Questions about Economic Benefits and Fraud Lead to Reforms
By Kate Hooper and Demetrios G. Papademetriou
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Multimedia
December 1, 2015
Investor Visa Programs: Examining their Utility, Challenges, and Successes
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Articles
December 1, 2015
European Immigrants in the United States
By Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova
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Fact Sheets
November 2015
Profile of Syrian Immigrants in the United States
By  Jie Zong
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Articles
November 18, 2015
Immigrants in the Smart City: The Potential of City Digital Strategies to Facilitate Immigrant Integration
By Divia Mattoo, Corinne Goldberg, Jillian Johnson, Carolina Farias Riaño, and Aliyyah Ahad
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Articles
November 12, 2015
Recent Court Rulings Block Deferred Action Programs and Raise Questions for Accessing Birthright Citizenship
By Muzaffar Chishti and Faye Hipsman
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Commentaries
November 2015
Meeting the Education Needs of Rising Numbers of Newly Arrived Migrant Students in Europe and the United States
By  Julie Sugarman

Pages

Feature
April 29, 2010
Arrested on Entry: Operation Streamline and the Prosecution of Immigration Crimes

Those caught trying to enter the United States illegally in portions of five Southwest border sectors face criminal prosecution under Operation Streamline, which the Department of Homeland Security launched in 2005. MPI's Donald Kerwin and Kristen McCabe examine how Operation Streamline works, highlight trends in the prosecution of immigration offenses, and evaluate the program's outcomes.

Policy Beat
April 15, 2010
Supreme Court Rules that Attorneys Must Inform Criminal Defendants of the Immigration Consequences of Pleading Guilty

MPI's Muzaffar Chishti and Claire Bergeron report on Padilla v. Kentucky, Arizona's passage of a controversial immigration bill, Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham's immigration reform blueprint, the latest H-1B application numbers, and more

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Spotlight
April 7, 2010
Filipino Immigrants in the United States

The 1.7 million Filipino immigrants in the United States made them the countrys second-largest immigrant group in 2008. MPIs Aaron Terrazas and Jeanne Batalova use the latest federal data to explore the population's size, geographic distribution, and socioeconomic characteristics.

Feature
March 31, 2010
Hidden in Plain Sight: Indigenous Migrants, Their Movements, and Their Challenges

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues estimates there are more than 370 million indigenous people in some 90 countries worldwide. Carlos Yescas of the New School for Social Research looks at the definition of indigenous people, the three types of indigenous-people flows, and how indigenous migrants maintain ties with their home communities.

Feature
March 29, 2010
In Mexico, Mother's Education and Remittances Matter in School Outcomes

Remittances would seem to boost the chances that children in Mexico complete high school. But money alone does not improve schooling outcomes in the educationally marginalized, migrant-sending regions of southern Mexico, as Adam Sawyer of the Harvard Graduate School of Education reports.

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Recent Activity

Articles
February 28, 2019

Executive Power Showdown: Congress and White House Quarrel over Immigration Spending

Though a faceoff between the U.S. executive and legislative branches is now in the courts, with President Trump's decision to declare a national emergency so he can allocate more money for construction of a border wall, a less-noted dispute has been taking place over the Department of Homeland Security's decision to add thousands more immigration detention beds than Congress provides annually, as this article explains.

Explainers
April 2019

Explainer: Illegal Immigration in the United States

How has the size of the unauthorized population in the United States changed over time? How is illegal immigration changing, and where do unauthorized immigrants come from? This explainer answers basic questions about illegal immigration, the changing patterns from Mexico, and more.

Articles
February 13, 2019

Caribbean Immigrants in the United States

Caribbean immigrants represent 10 percent of the 44.5 million immigrants in the United States, with the vast majority coming from just five countries: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago. Depending on their origin country and period of arrival, immigrants from the Caribbean have varying skill levels, racial composition, language background, and motivations for migration, as this article explores.

Articles
January 31, 2019

The Travel Ban at Two: Rocky Implementation Settles into Deeper Impacts

Two years after the Trump administration’s much-litigated travel ban was created, the policy has demonstrated a significant impact on the admission of foreigners from the banned countries, while also reshaping U.S. security vetting procedures and the refugee resettlement process in enduring ways, as this article explores on the second-year anniversary.

Policy Briefs
January 2019

Creatividad dentro de la crisis: opciones legales para migrantes venezolanos en América Latina

Enfrentados con la llegada de más de 3 millones de venezolanos huyendo de una economía colapsada y conflictos políticos, los países latinoamericanos han respondido con creatividad y pragmatismo. Pero, a medida que la crisis venezolana y la migración que ha impulsado se extienden, es necesario examinar más allá de la facilitación de la entrada legal y la otorgación del estatus temporal para planificar a largo plazo.

Policy Briefs
January 2019

Creativity amid Crisis: Legal Pathways for Venezuelan Migrants in Latin America

Faced with the arrival of more than 3 million Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse and political upheaval, Latin American countries have responded with creativity and pragmatism. But as the migration spurred by the crisis stretches on, there is a need to look beyond facilitating legal entry and granting temporary status to plan for the long term. This brief explores the policy response thus far and challenges ahead.

Video, Audio, Webinars
January 16, 2019

Promising Strategies for Reintegration of Migrants Returning to Mexico and Central America

This MPI webinar focuses on reception and reintegration services for returning migrants, along with the heightened pressure policymakers in Mexico and Central America are facing to design systems and programs that support both returnees and the communities in which they settle. Authors of a year-long study of reception and reintegration services in Mexico and the Northern Triangle discuss the findings of their fieldwork.

Articles
January 17, 2019

Immigrants from New Origin Countries in the United States

The national origins of new arrivals to the United States are shifting, in ways not always fully appreciated. Recent newcomers are more likely to come from Asia, Central America, and Africa, and less likely to be from Mexico. This article offers key demographic information about the 15 immigrant groups that have experienced the largest growth since 2010, including Indians, Chinese, Colombians, Nigerians, and Bangladeshis.

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