National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy

Policy Briefs

April 2024

Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families through Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Services

Young girl talks to a child psychologist

iStock.com/Lacheev

Infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) services can offer vital support for young children’s healthy development. Yet, young children in immigrant and refugee families often do not benefit, due in part to lower levels of health-care coverage and limited cultural responsiveness in the field. This issue brief explores the benefits and barriers to supporting these children via IECMH services, and some ways to close key gaps.

Reports

January 2024

Refining State Accountability Systems for English Learner Success

A high school student answers a math problem on a whiteboard

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

State accountability systems are designed to identify and close student achievement gaps. Yet most do not report and interpret English Learner (EL) outcomes in a way that paints a full picture of how different instructional services have contributed to academic development. This report sketches a vision for reimagined accountability systems that can support better understanding of ELs’ learning and inform school improvement strategies.

Reports

November 2023

The Unmet Potential of Community Consultations in U.S. Refugee Resettlement

Young woman speaks to other participants at a meeting

iStock.com/SDI Productions

As humanitarian migrant arrivals in the United States increase, via refugee resettlement and channels such as temporary parole, communication between the national, state, and local actors involved in supporting their reception and integration is critical. This report examines the goals and design of quarterly resettlement consultations, as well as opportunities to refine these processes to boost their impact and relevance in a changing policy landscape.

Fact Sheets

October 2023

Recent Immigrant Children: A Profile of New Arrivals to U.S. Schools

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

A significant increase in the number of immigrant children in U.S. schools over the last decade has challenged K-12 educators to expand their capacity to serve students with different backgrounds and educational needs. This fact sheet sketches a profile of recently arrived immigrant children, presenting data on top states of residence, national origins, household characteristics, and more.

Policy Briefs

October 2023

Leveraging Data to Ensure Equitable and Effective Adult Skills Programming for Immigrants

Adult immigrant students work together in an English class

iStock.com/shironosov

Immigrants make significant contributions to the U.S. economy and social fabric, but many also face barriers to integration. Adult education and workforce development programs offer services intended to help address such challenges yet can be mismatched to immigrants' needs. This issue brief sketches a profile of U.S.-born and immigrant adults, highlighting key similarities and differences relevant to the design of adult skills programs.

Policy Briefs

July 2023

ESSER: Moving the Needle on Equitable and Adequate Education Funding for English Learners

4th and 5th grade students working on posters

Allison Shelley/EDUimages

The pandemic and move to remote learning affected students across the United States, and certain groups—including the nation’s 5 million English Learners (ELs)—were hit particularly hard. At the same time, the federal government made unprecedented investments in public K-12 education to counter the pandemic’s adverse impacts. This issue brief explores the ways school districts have invested these funds to support ELs.

Featured

English Learners and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes a number of new requirements for the education of English Learners (ELs), including standardized criteria for identifying EL students and inclusion of English proficiency as a measurement of school quality. Resources on this page can help inform decisions such as how quickly schools must improve and how states can intervene with struggling districts.

Featured

ELL Information Center

The English Language Learner (ELL) Information Center provides informative fact sheets, maps, and state-level data resources that chronicle the demography and trends of immigrant families and their children.

Recent Activity

Multimedia March 19, 2018 Immigration Data Matters: How to Find the Most Accurate Resources	Multimedia February 28, 2018 The Impact of Immigration Enforcement Policies On Teaching and Learning in America’s Public Schools
Multimedia February 22, 2018 Effectively Serving Children in a Superdiverse Classroom: Implications for the Early Education System	Reports February 2018 Growing Superdiversity among Young U.S. Dual Language Learners and Its Implications By Maki Park, Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova
Reports January 2018 In the Age of Trump: Populist Backlash and Progressive Resistance Create Divergent State Immigrant Integration Contexts By Margie McHugh	Policy Briefs December 2017 New Opportunities? ESSA and Its Implications for Dual Language Learners and ECEC Workforce Development By Delia Pompa, Maki Park and Michael Fix
Fact Sheets November 2017 A Profile of Current DACA Recipients by Education, Industry, and Occupation By Jie Zong, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Jeanne Batalova, Julia Gelatt and Randy Capps	Multimedia November 2, 2017 How Are School Systems Responding to the Needs of Immigrants, Refugees, and Unaccompanied Minors?

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Reports June 2013 Shaping Our Futures: The Educational and Career Success of Washington State’s Immigrant Youth By Sarah Hooker, Margie McHugh, Michael Fix and Randy Capps	Reports June 2013 Health Care for Immigrant Families: Current Policies and Issues By Leighton Ku and Mariellen Jewers
Reports May 2013 Credential Recognition in the United States for Foreign Professionals By Linda Rabben	Policy Briefs May 2013 A Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Health Coverage Profile of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States By Randy Capps, Michael Fix, Jennifer Van Hook and James D. Bachmeier
Reports March 2013 Unauthorized Immigrant Parents and Their Children's Development By Hirokazu Yoshikawa and Jenya Kholoptseva	Reports January 2013 A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas: Changing Workforce and Family Demographics By Randy Capps, Kristen McCabe and Michael Fix
Books December 2012 Young Children of Black Immigrants in America: Changing Flows, Changing Faces	Reports October 2012 Patterns and Predictors of School Readiness and Early Childhood Success among Young Children in Black Immigrant Families By Danielle A. Crosby and Angel S. Dunbar

Pages

Video

July 23, 2013

Margie McHugh Testimony Video: Illegal Immigration and Children

Testimony of Margie McHugh, Co-Director of MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, U.S. House of Representatives.

Video, Audio

January 17, 2013

Critical Immigration, Health, and Education Policies Affecting Young Children of Immigrants

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.

Video, Audio

December 14, 2012

Young Children of Black Immigrants in America: Changing Flows, Changing Faces

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.

Video, Audio

September 24, 2012

2012 E Pluribus Unum Prizes

The winners of the Migration Policy Institute's 2012 E Pluribus Unum Prizes, honoring exceptional immigrant integration initiatives in the United States, discussed their work during a plenary luncheon on September 24, 2012 at the National Immigrant Integration Conference held in Baltimore, MD.

Audio

September 19, 2012

Making It Work: Lessons in Collaboration on Language Access Contracting

A webinar on language access contracting for federal, state, and local officials, agency administrators, and community stakeholders concerned with the oversight and implementation of language access provision.

Recent Activity

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.

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.

Video, Audio, Webinars

February 22, 2018

Effectively Serving Children in a Superdiverse Classroom: Implications for the Early Education System

As the number and share of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) continues to grow across the United States, diversity within this population is also increasing. This webinar marks the release of a report providing analysis of the diversity within the DLL population nationwide and at the state and local levels. Speakers discuss data on the three rapidly growing subgroups within the DLL population: Black and Asian American and Pacific Islander DLLs and young children of refugees, and the implications for the early education and care field and K-12 education systems.

Reports

February 2018

Growing Superdiversity among Young U.S. Dual Language Learners and Its Implications

Dual Language Learners (DLLs) grow up in U.S. families with a wide range of languages, origins, and socioeconomic characteristics. Yet little is known about which practices and program models work best in superdiverse classrooms where no minority language is dominant. This report explores DLL diversity at national, state, and local levels, highlighting its implications for early childhood programs and schools.

Reports

January 2018

In the Age of Trump: Populist Backlash and Progressive Resistance Create Divergent State Immigrant Integration Contexts

As long-simmering passions related to federal immigration policies have come to a full boil, less noted but no less important debates are taking place at state and local levels with regards to policies affecting immigrants and their children. As states are increasingly diverging in their responses, this report examines how some of the key policies and programs that support long-term integration success are faring in this volatile era.

Policy Briefs

December 2017

New Opportunities? ESSA and Its Implications for Dual Language Learners and ECEC Workforce Development

Enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 introduced opportunities to use federal funds to strengthen the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce as a means of better meeting the needs of the growing and increasingly diverse young child population.

Fact Sheets

November 2017

A Profile of Current DACA Recipients by Education, Industry, and Occupation

An average of 915 DACA recipients every day will lose their work authorization and protection from deportation once the phaseout of the program moves into full force in spring 2018, MPI estimates. This fact sheet also offers U.S. and state estimates of the school enrollment and educational attainment, workforce participation, and industries and occupations of employment for the nearly 690,000 current DACA holders.

Video, Audio, Webinars

November 2, 2017

How Are School Systems Responding to the Needs of Immigrants, Refugees, and Unaccompanied Minors?

Marking the release of an MPI report, this webinar explores some of the responses made by school districts to bring immigrant and refugee newcomer students up to speed in English and basic academic skills, all while focused on the educational system’s ultimate goal of high school completion with the skills necessary for today’s college and career demands. The discussion focuses on how schools create and expand systems around the identification of students’ immediate and ongoing academic and socioemotional needs, and how they design programs and curricular pathways to balance these needs with state policy constraints.

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