E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
Immigration Policy & Law

Immigration Policy & Law

Civil Liberties
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
DREAM Act/Deferred Action
Employment-Based Immigration
Family Reunification
Integration Policy
International Students
Legalization/Regularization
Selection Systems
Visa Policy

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

Multimedia
April 8, 2021
A Year of Pandemic: The State of Global Human Mobility & What Is on the Horizon
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Reports
April 2021
COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020
By  Meghan Benton, Jeanne Batalova, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Timo Schmidt
Unaccompanied minors undergo processing at a temporary facility in Texas.
Articles
April 1, 2021
Border Déjà Vu: Biden Confronts Similar Challenges as His Predecessors
By Muzaffar Chishti and Sarah Pierce
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Commentaries
March 2021
Hampered by the Pandemic: Unaccompanied Child Arrivals Increase as Earlier Preparedness Shortfalls Limit the Response
By  Mark Greenberg
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Articles
March 24, 2021
Movement after Migration: Immigrants’ Disproportionate Reliance on Public Transportation
By Mary Hanna
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Reports
March 2021
A Bridge to Firmer Ground: Learning from International Experiences to Support Pathways to Solutions in the Syrian Refugee Context
By  Camille Le Coz, Samuel Davidoff-Gore, Timo Schmidt, Susan Fratzke, Andrea Tanco, Maria Belen Zanzuchi and Jessica Bolter
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Commentaries
March 2021
¿Qué sigue ahora luego de que Colombia haya dado un paso histórico en materia de migración?
By  Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Diego Chaves-González
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Commentaries
February 2021
Biden Administration Is Making Quick Progress on Asylum, but a Long, Complicated Road Lies Ahead
By  Doris Meissner and Sarah Pierce

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Reports
September 2015
Health and Social Service Needs of U.S.-Citizen Children with Detained or Deported Immigrant Parents
By  Heather Koball, Randy Capps, Sarah Hooker, Krista Perreira, Andrea Campetella, Juan Manuel Pedroza, William Monson and Sandra Huerta
Reports
September 2015
Economic, Social, and Health Effects of Discrimination on Latino Immigrant Families
By  Cecilia Ayón
Reports
September 2015
The Impact of Discrimination on the Early Schooling Experiences of Children from Immigrant Families
By  Jennifer Keys Adair
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Reports
September 2015
Migrants Deported from the United States and Mexico to the Northern Triangle: A Statistical and Socioeconomic Profile
By  Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas and Victoria Rietig
Reports
September 2015
The Educational, Psychological, and Social Impact of Discrimination on the Immigrant Child
By  Christia Spears Brown
Reports
August 2015
An Analysis of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States by Country and Region of Birth
By  Marc R. Rosenblum and Ariel G. Ruiz Soto
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Policy Briefs
August 2015
DACA at the Three-Year Mark: High Pace of Renewals, But Processing Difficulties Evident
By  Angelo Mathay and Margie McHugh
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Reports
August 2015
In-Country Processing in Central America: A Piece of the Puzzle
By  Faye Hipsman and Doris Meissner

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Profile
February 15, 2018
Australia: A Welcoming Destination for Some

Immigration has driven economic and social development in Australia for more than two centuries. Even as more than one-fourth of the country’s population is foreign born and Australia ranks third among top refugee resettlement countries worldwide, controversy surrounding its hardline treatment of asylum seekers arriving by boat has cast a shadow on its reputation as a welcoming country, as this article explores.

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Spotlight
February 8, 2018
Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

The United States is by far the world's top migration destination, home to roughly one-fifth of all global migrants. In 2016, nearly 44 million immigrants lived in the United States, comprising 13.5 percent of the country's population. Get the most sought-after data available on immigrants and immigration trends, including top countries of origin, legal immigration pathways, enforcement actions, health-care coverage, and much more.

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Policy Beat
January 24, 2018
Shifting Gears, Trump Administration Launches High-Profile Worksite Enforcement Operations

An unannounced sweep of 98 convenience stores by U.S. immigration authorities—resulting in the arrest of 21 unauthorized workers—may signal a new approach to worksite enforcement under the Trump administration, moving away from a strategy of paper-based audits that resulted in higher employer fines and fewer worker arrests. This article explores worksite enforcement over recent decades.

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Feature
January 17, 2018
Amid Record Numbers of Arrivals, Chile Turns Rightward on Immigration

Chile's immigrant population has more than quadrupled since the country emerged from dictatorship in the early 1990s. As immigration has grown and moved away from its European roots to become more diverse, it has emerged as a hot-button political issue, complicating longstanding efforts to reform the country's 1975 immigration law. This article explores Chile's shift to the right on immigration, and how policies might evolve under the presidency of conservative Sebastián Piñera.

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Top Ten
December 20, 2017
Under Trump Administration, United States Takes Steps to Narrow Legal Immigration

During its first year, the Trump administration methodically put in place a series of bureaucratic barriers that could significantly reduce opportunities for foreigners to come to the United States legally. Among the actions taken during 2017: Imposition of a much-challenged travel ban suspending the entry of nationals from certain Muslim-majority countries, cuts to refugee admissions, and increased scrutiny for visa applicants.

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Video, Audio
February 27, 2014

A Treacherous Journey: Child Migrants Navigating the U.S. Immigration System

This panel discussion on unaccompanied minors focuses on a report by Kids in Need of Defense and the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at UC Hastings College of the Law, whose primary conclusion is that children face a U.S. immigration system created for adults that is not required to consider the child’s best interests.

Video, Audio
February 19, 2014

A Transatlantic Conversation: Managing Migration in the Era of Mobility

This discussion explores how the 2014 Greek Presidency of the European Union and the United States can work to address the challenges of managing migration while meeting humanitarian obligations and nurturing economic growth.

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Audio
November 20, 2013

Effective Labour Migration Management: Creating Checks and Balances while Searching for Talent

This Migration Policy Institute Europe event, organized with the Bertelsmann Stiftung, entitled Effective Labour Migration Management: Creating Checks and Balances while Searching for Talent brought together experts, policymakers, and social partners involved in the management of labor migration to discuss the various options available to policymakers.

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Video, Audio
October 31, 2013

10th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

The 10th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference featured keynotes by U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, as well as panel discussions covering a range of key immigration topics.

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Video, Audio
October 21, 2013

The Ongoing Challenge of Ensuring Human Rights for Migrants in the European Union and United States

In this panel discussion, Morten Kjaerum, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), discussed the state of rights protection in Europe as well as his agency’s role in this evolving arena, and speakers discussed shared challenges and opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
February 2015

Improving Migrants' Labour Market Integration in Europe from the Outset: A Cooperative Approach to Predeparture Measures

While there is growing consensus on the value of immigrant integration support prior to departure, such initiatives generally have not fully realized their potential. This policy brief reviews promising examples of predeparture measures for labor market integration in Europe that are jointly designed and/or run by origin- and destination-country actors, illustrating their potential to help effectively address some of the most stubborn obstacles to successful integration.
Policy Briefs
February 2015

Reducing the Risk that Youth with a Migrant Background in Europe Will Leave School Early

Youth of a migrant background are over-represented among those who leave school early in the European Union. This policy brief discusses empirical findings, theoretical insights, and promising measures that may inform further policy action to address the disproportionately high level of early school leaving among students with a migrant background, which results from socioeconomic and other factors.
Policy Briefs
February 2015

Migrant Education and Community Inclusion: Examples of Good Practice

A number of actors outside the formal educational context, including parents, peers, and other community members, can play an important role in the social and educational development of migrant children. This policy brief reviews current measures to promote the integration of migrant students around Europe, focusing on those initiatives that include the family and community as part of the educational process.
Video, Audio
February 12, 2015

The Skills of Immigrants: What PIAAC Tells Us

A report release examining PIAAC data on the skills of U.S. immigrant adults and whether there is a gap with native-born adults, and discussion of how these skills relate to key immigrant integration outcomes such as employment, income, access to training, and health.

Articles
February 11, 2015

As Implementation Nears, U.S. Deferred Action Programs Encounter Legal, Political Tests

President Obama's sweeping executive action to shield as many as 3.7 million unauthorized immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents from deportation is facing tough legal and political challenges. This month's Policy Beat examines the efforts to proceed with implementation of DAPA and the expansion of DACA despite a lawsuit brought by a coalition of 26 states and staunch opposition in the Republican-controlled Congress.
Reports
February 2015

Through an Immigrant Lens: PIAAC Assessment of the Competencies of Adults in the United States

Immigrant adults in the United States lag their native-born peers in literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills, with resulting effects on their income, employment, education, and health, according to MPI analysis of U.S. scores on the 2012 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The findings, which reveal wide ethnic and racial gaps in scoring, underscore deep U.S. social inequalities.
Articles
February 5, 2015

The Geopolitical Origins of the U.S. Immigration Act of 1965

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, radically altering U.S. policy and reshaping the demographic profile of the United States. Examining the foreign policy and domestic concerns leading to the law's enactment, David S. FitzGerald and David Cook-Martín argue that the demise of the national-origins quota system was driven by geopolitical factors.
Commentaries
January 2015

The Field of Migration Studies Loses a Giant: Graeme Hugo

In a personal tribute published in the Migration Information Source, MPI's online journal, MPI President Emeritus Demetrios G. Papademetriou reflects on the life and career of Graeme Hugo, a world-renowned scholar and Director of the Australian Population and Migration Research Centre at the University of Adelaide, who died in January 2015.

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