Illegal Immigration & Interior Enforcement

lllegal immigration is a phenomenon confronted by many major immigrant-receiving countries, one that vexes policymakers and publics alike. While much of the focus may be on border enforcement, there are an array of interior enforcement policies aimed at identifying unauthorized immigrants for removal, including worksite enforcement, employment verification, jail-house screening, and state and local law enforcement activity. The research below delves into many facets of illegal immigration and enforcement occcuring away from national borders.

Recent Activity

Articles August 2, 2023 In the Twilight Zone: Record Number of U.S. Immigrants Are in Limbo Statuses By Muzaffar Chishti and Kathleen Bush-Joseph	Multimedia July 25, 2023 Improving Communications in the Voluntary Return and Reintegration Network
Multimedia July 20, 2023 Straining under the Backlog: Fixing a U.S. Immigration Court System in Crisis	Reports July 2023 At the Breaking Point: Rethinking the U.S. Immigration Court System By Muzaffar Chishti, Doris Meissner, Stephen Yale-Loehr, Kathleen Bush-Joseph and Christopher Levesque
Articles July 11, 2023 Inmigrantes colombianos en los Estados Unidos By Diego Chaves-González y Jeanne Batalova	Articles July 11, 2023 Colombian Immigrants in the United States By Diego Chaves-González and Jeanne Batalova
Articles July 5, 2023 Haitians Flee a Nation Nearing Collapse By Emmanuela Douyon	Articles June 28, 2023 Activism on Immigration by U.S. States Is Back, with New Tactics and Different Targets By Muzaffar Chishti and Julia Gelatt

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Reports October 2021 African Migration through the Americas: Drivers, Routes, and Policy Responses By Caitlyn Yates and Jessica Bolter	Reports October 2021 Toward a Better Immigration System: Fixing Immigration Governance at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security By Doris Meissner and Ruth Ellen Wasem
Policy Briefs September 2021 Migration Management and Border Security: Lessons Learned By Alan D. Bersin	Reports August 2021 From Jailers to Case Managers: Redesigning the U.S. Immigration Detention System to Be Effective and Fair By Randy Capps and Doris Meissner
Reports July 2021 Integración socioeconómica de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos: Los casos de Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú By Diego Chaves-González, Jordi Amaral and María Jesús Mora	Reports July 2021 Socioeconomic Integration of Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees: The Cases of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru By Diego Chaves-González, Jordi Amaral and María Jesús Mora
Reports July 2021 Future Scenarios for Global Mobility in the Shadow of Pandemic By Meghan Benton	Policy Briefs May 2021 EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin By Camille Le Coz

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at a conference in Tampa.

Policy Beat

June 28, 2023

Activism on Immigration by U.S. States Is Back, with New Tactics and Different Targets

Renewed U.S. state activism on immigration has echoes of the early 2010s, when Arizona’s SB 1070 defined a Republican-led push to increase enforcement that was ultimately muted by the courts and public backlash. Newer strategies rely on a novel array of tactics including migrant busing, litigation, and lawmaking. States are also moving in opposite directions, with some expanding rights for unauthorized immigrants, as this article details.

Feature

June 6, 2023

In Canada’s French-Speaking Quebec, Immigration Sparks Anxieties about Language and Identity

Canada's ambitions to dramatically increase immigration have met resistance in Quebec, the country's only majority-French province, where many worry their identity is under threat. Provincial officials have sought to fortify the role of the French language in society through academic, immigration, and linguistic policies, but the language nonetheless faces demographic threats, as this article explains.

Banderas de las naciones centroamericanas en una marcha en San Diego.

Spotlight

June 2, 2023

Inmigrantes centroamericanos en los Estados Unidos

Los centroamericanos representan menos de una décima parte de la población de inmigrantes en Estados Unidos. Pero su número se ha multiplicado por diez desde 1980. Este artículo proporciona una mirada integral a esta población.

A double border wall leads to a boat launch in Yuma, Arizona.

Feature

May 31, 2023

Global Spending on Immigration Enforcement Is Higher than Ever and Rising

Budgets for border security and interior immigration enforcement have been on the rise in places including the United States and the European Union. The spending is a result of the heightened focus on securitization by the Global North and has led to a ballooning private industry. This article explains the trend.

An abandoned shoe lies in the mud along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Policy Beat

May 25, 2023

U.S. Border Asylum Policy Enters New Territory Post-Title 42

The United States entered a new era with the end of the pandemic-era Title 42 expulsions policy. The government’s hopes of maintaining order at the U.S.-Mexico border post-Title 42 may be complicated by factors including authorities’ limited capacity, ongoing litigation, and cooperation from other countries. This article reviews the Biden administration's changing border policies and possible challenges ahead.

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Video

September 21, 2020

17th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

This year’s Immigration Law and Policy Conference examines the immigration policy agenda under the Trump administration, including changes in the asylum system; the vast societal upheaval brought on by COVID-19 and the rising racial justice movement; what the future of U.S. immigration may look like; and many other topics related to U.S. immigration policy.

Video, Audio

August 26, 2020

Excluding Millions: How Trump Administration Changes to the Decennial Census Could Leave Out U.S. Citizens and Immigrants

This conversation, featuring a former U.S. Census Bureau director and other top experts, examines how the many challenges facing the 2020 Census could affect the count and representation of immigrant communities, the difficulties inherent in data matching to determine legal status, and the legal and constitutional issues surrounding the administration’s actions.

Flickr IOM Arrival of Returnees from Khartoum 7201505076_4a40649469_c

Video, Audio

June 25, 2020

Rethinking and Restarting: What Should the Returns Process Look Like Post-Pandemic?

This MPI Europe webinar showcases speakers from Belgium's Fedasil, the French Office of Immigration and Integration, and IOM discussing the counselling of (potential) returnees to increase the uptake of voluntary return—a return option that is generally seen as more humanitarian, practical, and less expensive.

flickr Pompeo and Mexican Foreign Secretary 48339070726_fce1d4d7d7_c (1)

Video, Audio

June 8, 2020

Beyond the Border: U.S.-Mexican Migration Accord Has Ushered in Sweeping Change in Mexico in Its First Year

Amid rising Central American migration to the United States, the U.S. and Mexican governments in June 2019 signed a joint declaration pledging to work together to manage and reduce irregular migration. At the agreement’s one-year anniversary, MPI researchers engaged in discussion with former U.S. and Mexican Ambassadors and a veteran journalist about the changes sparked.

Andrew Selee, Veronica Escobar, Dan Crenshaw, Duncan Wood

Video

April 22, 2020

Immigration and the U.S.-Mexico Border during the Pandemic: A Conversation with Members of Congress

In this bipartisan discussion, two border-state members of Congress—Rep. Veronica Escobar and Rep. Dan Crenshaw—discuss the response to the coronavirus outbreak, how it is affecting the interconnected border region, and what the future might hold.

Recent Activity

Expert Q&A, Audio

October 20, 2021

Building a Modern U.S. Immigration and Asylum System in the National Interest

People on all sides of the policy debate largely agree that the U.S. immigration system is broken. What should a 21st century system that works in the national interest look like? And is this vision achievable amid current political realities? In this World of Migration podcast episode, MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner speaks with Policy Analyst Ariel Ruiz Soto about how to build an immigration system that reflects today’s realities and builds in the flexibility to adapt to future developments.

Reports

October 2021

How We Talk about Migration: The Link between Migration Narratives, Policy, and Power

As migration levels rise, societies are facing competing narratives about immigration. Often, there is dissonance between top-down narratives from political leaders and bottom-up narratives spread through personal and media engagement. This report explores positive and negative narratives around migration in Colombia, Lebanon, Morocco, Sweden, and the United States to determine the contexts in which some stick while others fail.

Articles

October 15, 2021

Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States

Vietnamese immigrants are among the largest foreign-born groups from Asia in the United States. The first significant arrivals came at the end of the Vietnam War; more recent immigrants from Vietnam have been more likely to come through family sponsorship programs. This article examines different dimensions of this immigrant population.

Expert Q&A, Audio

October 13, 2021

Making Migration Policy in an Ever More Complex World

MPI co-founder Demetrios G. Papademetriou takes on many questions, including whether the role of think tanks has evolved over the last two decades, in this World of Migration conversation with MPI’s Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan. They also look ahead to the challenges that will dominate immigration policymaking in the years ahead.

Reports

October 2021

Migración africana a través del continente americano: impulsores, rutas y respuestas normativas

La cantidad de migrantes africanos que viajan por América del Sur y Central con la esperanza de llegar a la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México para buscar asilo es pequeña, pero está aumentando. Este informe examina los factores que impulsan la migración africana a través de las Américas, las rutas y los desafíos comunes, y las respuestas de países de tránsito en América Latina.

Reports

October 2021

African Migration through the Americas: Drivers, Routes, and Policy Responses

The number of African migrants traveling through South and Central America in hopes of reaching the U.S.-Mexico border, many seeking asylum, is small but increasing. This report examines the factors driving African migration through the Americas, common routes and challenges, and how transit countries are responding.

Reports

October 2021

Toward a Better Immigration System: Fixing Immigration Governance at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Nearly two decades since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was founded in 2003, U.S. immigration governance is buckling from breakdowns in performance across key immigration components and partner agencies. This report advances ideas for DHS to fix its governance to manage immigration as a system, focusing on challenges in mission and structure, intra-DHS and interdepartmental collaboration, funding, and institutional culture.

Video, Audio

September 27, 2021

18th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

The 2021 annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference featured a keynote conversation with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas and analysis by top experts on the early months of the Biden administration and how immigration law and policy can respond to our changing world in a manner that is humane and in the national interest.

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