E.g., 12/06/2023
E.g., 12/06/2023
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
_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

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Policy Briefs
January 2018
Welcome to Work? Legal Migration Pathways for Low-Skilled Workers
By  Kathleen Newland and Andrea Riester
WhiteHouse
Commentaries
January 2018
The Trump Immigration Plan: A Lopsided Proposal
By  Julia Gelatt and Sarah Pierce
7-Eleven in Los Angeles
Articles
January 24, 2018
Shifting Gears, Trump Administration Launches High-Profile Worksite Enforcement Operations
By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica Bolter
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Reports
January 2018
Trump’s First Year on Immigration Policy: Rhetoric vs. Reality
By  Sarah Pierce, Jessica Bolter and Andrew Selee
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Reports
January 2018
In the Age of Trump: Populist Backlash and Progressive Resistance Create Divergent State Immigrant Integration Contexts
By  Margie McHugh
PeruviansInChile MunicipalidadDeSantiago Flickr
Articles
January 17, 2018
Amid Record Numbers of Arrivals, Chile Turns Rightward on Immigration
By Cristián Doña Reveco
Airport protest
Articles
December 20, 2017
Under Trump Administration, United States Takes Steps to Narrow Legal Immigration
By Julia Gelatt
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Policy Briefs
December 2017
Immigration under Trump: A Review of Policy Shifts in the Year Since the Election
By  Sarah Pierce and Andrew Selee

Pages

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Policy Briefs
June 2005
Twilight Statuses: A Closer Examination of the Unauthorized Population
By  David A. Martin
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Fact Sheets
June 2005
Backlogs in Immigration Processing Persist
By  Doris Meissner, Elizabeth Grieco, Kevin Jernegan and Colleen Coffey
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Fact Sheets
October 2004
Legal Immigration to U.S. Still Declining
By  Deborah W. Meyers
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Reports
October 2004
Building the New American Community: Newcomer Integration and Inclusion Experiences in Non-Traditional Gateway Cities
By  Brian Ray and Ann Morse
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Reports
July 2004
Observations on Regularization and the Labor Market Performance of Unauthorized and Regularized Immigrants
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Kevin O'Neil and Maia Jachimowicz
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Reports
January 2004
NAFTA's Promise and Reality: Lessons from Mexico for the Hemisphere
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou, John J. Audley, Sandra Polaski and Scott Vaughan
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Fact Sheets
January 2004
International Agreements of the Social Security Administration
By  Deborah W. Meyers
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Fact Sheets
November 2003
U.S.-Canada-Mexico Fact Sheet on Trade and Migration
By  Deborah W. Meyers and Maia Jachimowicz

Pages

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
January 2018

Welcome to Work? Legal Migration Pathways for Low-Skilled Workers

Although in many countries immigrants fill labor gaps in fields such as agriculture and construction, few legal migration pathways exist for low-skilled workers. As states meet to negotiate a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, this policy brief takes stock of the channels available for such workers to move legally and take up work abroad, highlighting promising practices and policy gaps.

Commentaries
January 2018

The Trump Immigration Plan: A Lopsided Proposal

The White House immigration plan offered as a solution to resolve the fate of DREAMers seeks legal immigration cuts unlike any seen since 1924. In addition to a decrease of up to 40 percent in family-sponsored immigration, the proposal demands vast increases in enforcement and a retrenchment in protections for those seeking humanitarian relief. In exchange, one-sixth of the unauthorized population could gain legal status.

Articles
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.

Reports
January 2018

Trump’s First Year on Immigration Policy: Rhetoric vs. Reality

Looking back after one year in office, it is striking how just closely the Trump administration’s actions on immigration have hewed to priorities Donald Trump outlined in an uncommonly detailed policy speech in August 2016. This report revisits those pledges to assess where the administration has made the most and least headway, and what its policy agenda ahead might look like.

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.

Articles
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.

Articles
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.

Policy Briefs
December 2017

Immigration under Trump: A Review of Policy Shifts in the Year Since the Election

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump made immigration the centerpiece of his campaign, offering a more detailed policy agenda than on any other issue. In the year since the election that propelled the Republican into the White House, how has the Trump administration’s record matched up with the rhetoric? This policy brief examines the executive orders and other changes to existing policy and practice made during 2017.

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