E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
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 1990act
Policy Briefs
July 2016
By  Muzaffar Chishti and Stephen Yale-Loehr
coverthumb tcmpubanx
Reports
May 2016
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
coverthumb tcmuk
Reports
May 2016
By  Sunder Katwala and Will Somerville
coverthumb tcmalba
Policy Briefs
April 2016
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Richard Alba, Nancy Foner and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan

Pages

HonduranBoy KevinChang Flickr

Since fiscal year 2010, more than 70,000 immigrant children have applied for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status, a pathway to a green card for youth who have been abused or neglected by their parents. Based on interviews with SIJ applicants, judges, and attorneys, this article provides an overview of the SIJ program and identifies limitations on access.

VenezuelansEcuador AgenciaANDES Flickr

The deepening of Venezuela's social, economic, and political implosion has resulted in the fastest movement of people across borders in Latin American history. Neighboring countries have responded with a patchwork of policy measures, though the scale and growing diversity of Venezuelan arrivals have challenged regional actors, as this article explores.

Travel ban protest at the Supreme Court

Though the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a major victory by upholding its much-contested travel ban, less noted has been the fact that the ruling left an opening for future challenges to the policy of barring groups of foreign nationals from the country. This Policy Beat explores the evolution of the travel ban, the justices' arguments for and against, and changes in visa grants from travel-ban countries.

Canadian family on Canada Day

Though small, the population of Canadians in the United States is quite diverse, and includes students, highly skilled professionals on H-1B or NAFTA visas, family migrants, and retirees. Canadian immigrants have much higher educational attainment and incomes than the native- and overall foreign-born populations. This article offers an interesting data snapshot of Canadians in the United States.

A boy peers through fencing at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Frustrated by an uptick in migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, the Trump administration unveiled a set of sweeping changes, aiming to prosecute for federal immigration crimes every migrant apprehended crossing illegally. The policy will likely be hindered by legal challenges and capacity limitations, as this article explores.

Pages

EVENTPH 2014.10.21   11th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conf. USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez
Video, Audio
October 21, 2014

This conference, keynoted by USCIS Director León Rodríguez, featured panels on local immigrant integration policies; expected executive action on immigration; the treatment of unaccompanied children from Central America; and innovations in government-funded legal counsel and accelerated court cases.

EVENTPH 2014.10.16   The U.S. Deportation System  Trends from a Decade of Data
Video, Audio
October 16, 2014

MPI researchers, along with analysts from the Government Accountability Office and American Immigration Council, discuss the findings from an MPI report that examines the 3.7 million deportations that have occurred in the United States since establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, as well as lessons that can be learned for future policy and possible administrative action.

EventPH 2014.9.22 Leadership Visions with USCBP from event
Video, Audio
September 22, 2014

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske, who assumed his duties in 2014, lays out his vision and discusses his priorities for the agency as part of MPI's Leadership Visions series.

EVENTPH 2014.9.18   Unpacking the Links between Segregation, Community Cohesion, and Opportunity (YouTube)
Video
September 18, 2014

In this webinar, experts and policymakers from Europe and the United States discuss the relationship between immigration, residential segregation, community relations, and economic opportunities.

EVENTPH 2014.9.16   DACA DREAM ED REQ. WEBINAR (USDOEDSC_0079 (1))
Audio
September 16, 2014

A discussion and report release on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, how its educational requirements may be impacting application rates, and recommendations for overcoming the education-success challenges that key subgroups of DACA-DREAM youth face.

Pages

Recent Activity

Articles

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.

Video, Webinars
October 14, 2021

In this webinar, speakers examine issues of integration and social cohesion in Colombia, and explore how the international community can support Colombia and other countries receiving significant numbers of Venezuelan migrants and refugees. They also discuss Colombian initiatives that seek to improve the situation for migrants as well as the host communities where they reside.

Reports
December 2021

El gobierno de los Estados Unidos ha relanzado el Programa de Menores Centroamericanos, que fue creado para ofrecer a ciertos niños que viven en condiciones peligrosas en El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras una forma segura y legal de reunirse con sus padres en los Estados Unidos. Este informe identifica las lecciones aprendidas de la versión anterior del programa y hace recomendaciones sobre cómo fortalecerlo en el futuro.

Reports
December 2021

The U.S. government has relaunched the Central American Minors (CAM) Program, which was created to offer certain children living in dangerous conditions in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras a safe, legal way to join their parents in the United States. This report identifies shortcomings in the earlier version of the program, examines the new one, and makes recommendations for how to strengthen it going forward.

Policy Briefs
December 2021

Europe has announced it will launch a set of Talent Partnerships, combining new mobility schemes for workers or students with related investments in capacity-building in partner countries. As the details are being hammered out, this MPI Europe policy brief explores how and under what conditions these partnerships could help meet European labor market needs and provide tangible benefits for partner countries and migrants themselves.

Expert Q&A, Audio
December 9, 2021

How has the business world responded to disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic? In this episode of Moving Beyond Pandemic, we speak with two former government officials who are now in the private sector—Ian Robinson of the immigration law firm Fragomen and Brendan Ryan, CEO of Nomadic, about the trends and policy environment shaping business mobility decisions.

Video, Audio, Webinars
December 1, 2021

In this webinar, speakers examine the critical role of child care provided by family, friends, and neighbors (FFN) for immigrant families and program and policy approaches to more equitably serve and support FFN caregivers.

Articles

The Biden administration's court-ordered restart of the controversial Migrant Protection Protocols, known informally as the Remain in Mexico policy, puts it in the awkward position of reviving a program it is simultaneously still trying to end. The Trump-era program forced tens of thousands of migrants to wait out the duration of their U.S. immigration court hearings in Mexico and was only questionably successful at deterring unauthorized arrivals.

Pages