E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
Immigrant Integration

Immigrant Integration

_ImmigrantYouth2

Immigrant integration is the process of economic mobility and social inclusion for newcomers and their children. As such, integration touches upon the institutions and mechanisms that promote development and growth within society, including early childhood care; elementary, postsecondary, and adult education systems; workforce development; health care; provision of government services to communities with linguistic diversity; and more. Successful integration builds communities that are stronger economically and more inclusive socially and culturally.

Recent Activity

Photo of a preschool teacher reading to students.
Commentaries
November 2022
By  Jacob Hofstetter, Alexis Fintland and Maki Park
Luxury cars in front of a hotel on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah.
Articles
A collage of Ukrainians in Poland.
Articles
A view of Barcelona.
A mariachi band performing in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Articles
Image of an infographic showing key DLL stats
Fact Sheets
October 2022
By  Ivana Tú Nhi Giang and Maki Park

Pages

Coverthumb DataMatters2018
Reports
November 2020
By  Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Michelle Mittelstadt
Educating English Learners during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Ideas for States and School Districts
Policy Briefs
September 2020
By  Julie Sugarman and Melissa Lazarin
coverthumb_immigrantes crimen
Policy Briefs
September 2020
By  Dany Bahar, Meagan Dooley and Andrew Selee
coverthumb_crime migration
Policy Briefs
September 2020
By  Dany Bahar, Meagan Dooley and Andrew Selee

Pages

Mother and daughter from Middle Eastern background

Migration from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to the United States doubled between 2000 and 2019, yet these immigrants represented less than 3 percent of the overall U.S. foreign-born population as of 2019. MENA immigrants are more likely than other immigrants to be English proficient, have a college degree, and work in management, business, science, and arts occupations.

A Dutch family at Ellis Island between 1915 and 1920.

As host to more immigrants than any other country, the United States has been shaped and reshaped by immigration over the centuries, with the issue at times becoming a flashpoint. This article covers the history of U.S. immigration and the major laws governing immigration, and provides a comprehensive overview of the present-day immigrant population.

New U.S. citizens take an oath during a naturalization ceremony.

More than half of all immigrants in the United States are naturalized citizens. The number of new naturalizations has fluctuated from year to year, hitting a decade-long low in fiscal year 2020, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising processing times. This article provides information on naturalized citizens in the United States, including historical trends and socioeconomic characteristics.

Merchants sell items on a busy street in San José, Costa Rica.

Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans have fled their country since 2018, amid repression and a renewed government crackdown. In neighboring Costa Rica, many migrants have encountered a robust system for protection and integration, yet they still face stigma and discrimination in their daily lives. This article explores this dynamic along one of Central America's most important migratory routes.

A woman stands onboard the U.S. Navy vessel on which she was born.

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.

Pages

Felipe Munoz at Migration Policy Institute Event
Video, Audio
September 27, 2019

Felipe Muñoz, Advisor to the President of Colombia for the Colombian-Venezuelan Border, discusses how Colombia is coping with the influx of Venezuelan migrants, plans for future policy decisions surrounding this migration, and developments in regional and international cooperation.

Flickr SweetwaterISDCowen Early Childhood CenterNationalTeddyBearDay
Video, Audio
August 28, 2019

Marking a policy brief's release, this webinar explores the promise of home visiting services that support new parents alongside their infants and toddlers, plus strategies for improving how these programs work with immigrant and linguistically diverse families.

Andrew Selee and Jason DeParle
Video, Audio
August 20, 2019

Marking the launch of New York Times reporter Jason DeParle's book tracing the arc of migration and its impacts through the life of an extended family of Filipino migrants over a three-decade period, from Manila and through Dubai to the Houston area, this conversation with MPI's Andrew Selee and the World Bank's Dilip Ratha explores migration at both a global and very personal level.

Cecilia Munoz and Carlos Gutierrez
Video, Audio
August 12, 2019

This discussion marked the launch of MPI's Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy Initiative, which aims to generate a big-picture, evidence-driven vision of the role immigration should play in America’s future, as well as to build a bipartisan center so needed reforms can be enacted.

2019.5.17EVENTPHOTO
Video, Audio
May 17, 2019

With the U.S. administration calling for the United States to adopt a more “merit-based” immigrant selection system, this conversation focused on what policymakers should consider in designing—and managing—immigrant selection systems in a time of intense labor-market and demographic change.

Pages

Recent Activity

Articles

Nearly 2.8 million immigrants worked in the U.S. health-care sector in 2021, representing disproportionately high shares of physicians, surgeons, and home health aides. This article offers a demographic and socioeconomic profile of foreign-born workers in health care.

Policy Briefs
April 2023

The labor shortages many countries are grappling with have reignited debates over the role immigration can and should play in meeting workforce needs—and how to balance this approach with investments in education and training, labor, and social policy. This brief explores these questions, plus opportunities for governments to refine how they factor shortages into economic immigration policies.

Articles

Historically a country of emigration, Spain rapidly transitioned to become one of Europe’s major immigration destinations in just a few years. Remarkably, this evolution occurred with minimal political backlash, even as the country suffered through a crippling economic and labor crisis. This country profile examines the trends and policies that led to this astonishing development.

Articles

High-skilled immigration represents a potential major benefit to Czechia, which has undergone rapid economic growth since the transition from communism. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new Ukrainians, many of whom are well educated, marks a moment for the country to re-evaluate its integration policies, as this article details.

Expert Q&A, Audio
March 15, 2023

Investor visa programs have become popular for countries seeking to attract foreign investment and stimulate economic growth. But how exactly do these programs work, and what are the potential benefits and drawbacks? MPI’s Kate Hooper speaks with Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, about the range of investment visa programs, applicants’ motives, and more.

Video, Audio, Webinars
March 9, 2023

This expert conversation reviews migration in nine Caribbean countries, outlining challenges and opportunities for the integration of the migrant population and a successful engagement with diasporas to advance development, along with recommendations to strengthen the region’s capacity to accommodate changing patterns of migration.

Articles

Want to check a fact about U.S. immigration? Interested in putting recent trends into perspective? This article compiles authoritative, up-to-date information about the U.S. immigrant population and how it has changed over time. Data cover immigrants' demographic, educational, and linguistic characteristics; their top states of residence; enforcement activities; refugees and asylum seekers; naturalization trends; visa backlogs; and more.

Video, Audio, Webinars
March 9, 2023

En este webinar, expertos del Banco Interamericano (BID) y el Migration Policy Institute (MPI) presentaron las principales conclusiones de su nueva publicación sobre la realidad migratoria de la región y compartieron algunos de los desafíos y oportunidades para la integración de la población migrante y para capitalizar el potencial de sus diásporas como un impulso para el desarrollo.

Pages