Refugee & Asylum Policy

Tens of millions of people around the globe have been forcibly displaced by conflict, natural disaster, or persecution, seeking refuge either within or beyond the borders of their country. Humanitarian protection, whether for refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced persons (IDPs), represents a key policy area for many major immigrant-receiving countries as well as nations bordering locations where war, political upheaval, or natural disaster have disrupted daily life. The research offered here relates to the law and practice of protecting refugees and IDPs in areas of conflict as well as in industrialized nations, with a focus on secure solutions and effective institutional arrangements for comprehensive protection.

Recent Activity

Commentaries October 2023 Addressing the Next Displacement Crisis in the Making in the Americas By Valerie Lacarte	Articles October 11, 2023 Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States By Jeanne Batalova
Articles October 9, 2023 Cómo el peligroso Tapón del Darién se convirtió en la encrucijada migratoria de las Américas By Caitlyn Yates y Juan Pappier	Commentaries September 2023 Achieving Meaningful International Cooperation on Displacement: Can the 2023 Global Refugee Forum Deliver? By Susan Fratzke and Hannes Einsporn
Multimedia September 26, 2023 The Power of Refugee Sponsorship: A Sponsor’s Story	Articles September 27, 2023 New York and Other U.S. Cities Struggle with High Costs of Migrant Arrivals By Muzaffar Chishti, Julia Gelatt, and Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh
Multimedia September 14, 2023 Strengthening Refugee Engagement in Community Sponsorship Programs	Articles September 21, 2023 Inmigrantes cubanos en los Estados Unidos By Jiaxin Wei y Jeanne Batalova

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Reports December 2021 Relaunching the Central American Minors Program: Opportunities to Enhance Child Safety and Family Reunification By Mark Greenberg, Stephanie Heredia, Kira Monin, Celia Reynolds and Essey Workie	Reports November 2021 El estado de la política migratoria y de integración de Costa Rica By Diego Chaves-González and María Jesús Mora
Reports November 2021 The State of Costa Rican Migration and Immigrant Integration Policy By Diego Chaves-González and María Jesús Mora	Reports October 2021 How We Talk about Migration: The Link between Migration Narratives, Policy, and Power By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, Haim Malka and Shelly Culbertson
Reports October 2021 Migración africana a través del continente americano: impulsores, rutas y respuestas normativas By Caitlyn Yates and Jessica Bolter	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

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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.

Spotlight

June 15, 2023

Refugees and Asylees in the United States

U.S. refugee resettlement is slowly increasing after hitting a historic low, rebounding from the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce humanitarian migration as well as pandemic-era restrictions on movement and processing slowdowns. This article offers recent and historical data about refugees resettled in the United States, as well as asylum seekers and asylees.

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.

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Expert Q&A, Audio

December 15, 2022

A Century of Climate Migration Upheaval? An Audacious Prediction for the Future

As the planet’s temperature warms, award-winning environmental journalist Gaia Vince thinks humanity is facing a chaotic century of mass migration spurred by climate change? In this episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration, she contemplates a future in which hundreds of millions of people move from one part of the globe to another.

Video, Audio

December 13, 2022

The Ukrainian Displacement Crisis: A Conversation with the European Commission's Director General for Migration and Home Affairs

Monique Pariat, the European Commission’s Director General for Migration and Home Affairs, spoke to the DC policy community on Europe’s rapid response to the Ukrainian displacement crisis, lessons learned, and considerations for future policies.

Lviv, Ukraine. Jesuit houses sheltering families

Video, Audio

October 11, 2022

Migrant Integration: Learning from What Works in Times of Uncertainty

With millions fleeing war-torn Ukraine, questions about how to effectively promote migrant integration are again front and center.

Video

September 20, 2022

19th Annual Immigration Law & Policy Conference

Focusing on top immigration policy issues at federal and state levels, this 2022 Immigration Law and Policy Conference featured keynotes by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson exploring the growing role states are taking in the national immigration debate.

Evacuees prepare to board a C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan, Aug. 18, 2021

Video, Audio

August 10, 2022

One Year On: The Situation for At-Risk Afghans in Afghanistan and Abroad

Marking the one-year withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, this webinar reflects on the humanitarian and development challenges in Afghanistan and for neighbors, the difficult choices facing aid donors, and what needs to be done to ensure at-risk Afghans can reach safety.

Recent Activity

Policy Briefs

February 2017

Trump Executive Order on Refugees and Travel Ban: A Brief Review

This brief examines key provisions of President Trump's recent executive order suspending travel from certain majority-Muslim countries and pausing the U.S. refugee resettlement program, comparing them to current and earlier policy and practice. Presented in an easy-to-use side-by-side chart, the brief gives context to the executive order, which has drawn major scrutiny.

Commentaries

February 2017

New EU Partnerships in North Africa: Potential to Backfire?

Eager to emulate the success of an EU-Turkey deal that has helped sharply reduce crossings into Greece, the European Union is exploring similar partnerships with transit countries along the North African coastline. But as this commentary explores, these prospective deals with Libya and other governments may be built upon unstable foundations and come with inherent complexities, possible risks for North African partners, and moral and other hazards for the European Union.

Commentaries

January 2017

The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program Is an Unsuitable Target

The executive order halting the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days and cutting refugee placements has identified a singularly unsuitable target. None of the more than 3 million refugees who have entered the United States through the resettlement program has killed anyone in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Singling out refugees is a classic case of blaming the victim and will not make America safer, as this commentary explores.

Audio

January 27, 2017

European Union Third-Country Partnerships: Where Do We Go From Here?

In the year since the Valletta Summit, the European Union and Member State governments have ramped up cooperation with origin, transit, and hosting countries, yet questions remain over how effective these partnerships have been and how far they can be reasonably be pursued. This webinar is a discussion on longer-term interventions the European Union may pursue to find solutions for asylum seekers, including cooperation with other countries on migration management.

Reports

January 2017

Constrained by its Roots: How the Origins of the Global Asylum System Limit Contemporary Protection

While territorial asylum—the principle that a refugee must reach the territory of a host country in order to lodge a protection claim—has become the dominant response to refugee outflows, it does not provide an easy solution for sudden influxes. Amid record global displacement, this report considers whether there are viable alternatives to territorial asylum, and explores how they might be implemented.

Commentaries

January 2017

Taking Action to Reflect Current Reality: Obama Administration Ends “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” Policies on Cuban Migration

The Obama administration has taken a bold action to end the decades-old "wet foot, dry foot" policies that have for too long drawn Cubans to the United States in dangerous ways and sizeable numbers. The time has come when building a more normal U.S.-Cuba relationship must include updating migration and immigration policies to reflect today's realities, as this commentary by MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner explains.

Articles

January 12, 2017

Syrian Refugees in the United States

More than 18,000 Syrian refugees have been resettled in the United States since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011. Nearly half of Syrian refugees are under age 14, and this population is more dispersed geographically across the country than the overall Syrian immigrant population. This article offers a demographic profile of Syrian refugees, including age, gender, language, and religion, as well as top state and city destinations.

Articles

December 20, 2016

Dawn of New Migration Reality Brings Focus on Borders, Returns, and Integration

As Europe begins to move beyond the overwhelming flows of asylum seekers and other migrants it experienced starting in 2015, policymakers are paying significant focus to integration coupled with stepped-up enforcement. 2016 saw a wave of policy innovations facilitating integration as well as returns and deterrence, but it remains to be seen whether Europe will be able to continue and scale up this work in 2017 and beyond, as this Top 10 article explores.

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