Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

World of Migration: Why Is Immigration Policy So Hard to Get Right?

Why has immigration become so politically divisive – and why is it so difficult for governments to design policies that satisfy both public concerns and economic needs?
In this episode, MPI’s Meghan Benton speaks with Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford and a member of the UK's Migration Advisory Committee. Drawing on insights from her new book, What Is Immigration Policy For?, she explains why immigration policy involves trade-offs between economic, humanitarian, and political goals—and why these tensions often lead to public dissatisfaction. The episode also examines challenges in regulating unauthorized migration and spontaneous asylum flows, the limits of deterrence policies, and decisions around low-wage labor migration.

State and Local Language Access Efforts Amid Federal Policy Shifts

Nearly 28 million U.S. residents, more than half of whom are U.S. citizens, reported limited proficiency in English as of 2023. How government agencies at all levels communicate with multilingual publics can have significant consequences for public safety and emergency responses, access to public information and services, community well-being, and the overall effectiveness of government programs.
 
Amid a shifting landscape, with the Trump administration enshrining English as the official language and dismantling language access initiatives across federal agencies, the work of state and local governments in this area over the past two decades is taking on even greater relevance.  
 
While longstanding federal civil-rights requirements to provide language access remain in place, the changes coming out of Washington in this policy area have created uncertainty and confusion. 
 
This webinar from MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, which has long mapped the language access policy landscape, exploreS the role of state and local policies in today’s rapidly changing national policy context. Experts assess opportunities for state and local stakeholders to support and expand their language access policies and programs. The webinar accompanies the release of the report, New Frameworks for Language Access: Tracking the Expansion & Features of State & Local Laws & Policies.
 
Speakers include:
Ana Paula Noguez Mercado, State Language Access Manager, Office of New Americans, New Jersey Department of Human Services
Michael Mulé, Civil-rights attorney / language access expert
Jodie Stanley, International Support and Language Access Coordinator, Human Rights Department, City of Greensboro, NC
Jacob Hofstetter, Policy Analyst, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, MPI
www.migrationpolicy.org

The ESSA Waiver Landscape and Implications for K-12 English Learners

As states begin to take up the U.S. Secretary of Education’s offer to apply for waivers to their obligations under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, there are significant implications for English Learner (EL) students around the country.
In July 2025, the U.S. Department of Education issued a letter encouraging states to seek waivers to their federal mandate to improve student academic achievement and maximize the impact of federal education funding. One state, Iowa, received waiver approval, and several other states have begun the waiver request process. 
ESSA outlines statutory requirements that not only fund public education, but also provide guardrails to ensure all students, regardless of their background or community, have access to a quality education that prepares them to achieve in today’s world. The law also grants the Secretary of Education the authority to waive certain requirements outlined in the law, which has long been viewed as ensuring that ELs and all other students receive an equitable, quality education. 
While states have long had the ability to seek waivers, the Trump administration’s efforts to end the federal role in education, including by diminishing civil-rights oversight of schools, and attempts to cut program funding for particular populations, such as ELs, underscore the importance of understanding the potential implications of these actions for ELs and their communities.
This webinar brings together a panel of experts to discuss the ESSA waiver process and requirements, an overview of current state waivers and their objectives, and what these developments mean in practice for ELs and the schools they attend. 
 
Speakers include:
Megan Hopkins, Professor & Chair, Department of Education Studies, University of California, San Diego
Trish Morita-Mullaney, Professor, English Language Learning, Purdue University
Dave Powell, Senior Consultant, Education First
Delia Pompa, Senior Fellow for Education Policy, MPI
 
More information: www.migrationpolicy.org

Meeting Labor Skill Needs While Expanding Refugee Protection

As humanitarian protection needs grow amid near-record displacement globally, labor migration pathways offer another route to safety and stability for qualified refugees while helping meet destination countries’ skill needs. In practice, however, qualified refugees can struggle to qualify for work visas due to poorly designed frameworks or operational practices. The circumstances of their displacement can make it impossible to meet certain requirements, such as providing a valid passport or original proof of qualifications or traveling for necessary appointments. And employers and visa applicants alike can be deterred from using these pathways because of cumbersome procedures, complex requirements, and unpredictable results.
As countries across Europe and beyond explore reforms to their labor pathways to attract sought-after talent, and civil-society actors push to expand protection opportunities, this MPI Europe webinar explored ways to make work visas more accessible to qualified refugees. 
Speakers examined the barriers that prevent refugees from successfully applying for work visas and assessed initiatives and practices that aim to close this gap. They will discussed concrete policy design changes and practical solutions to help make visa systems more accessible and predictable—benefiting not only refugee workers, but employers and all applicants alike. The webinar marked the launch of Building Refugee-Inclusive Labour Mobility Pathways: A visa evaluation framework and accompanying scorecard that give policymakers a framework to understand how accessible different work visas are for refugee candidates and opportunities for reforms that can achieve these twin goals of addressing labor shortage and protection needs. 
This webinar was organized as part of the Skills, Talent, and Empowerment through Pathways (STEP) project, which focuses on developing and expanding labor mobility channels for displaced workers, in particular those to Ireland, Italy, and Spain. STEP is co-funded by the European Union’s Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund (AMIF).
 
Speakers included:
Bassel Ramli, Co-Founder & Director, Global Initiatives, Jumpstart Refugee Talent
Marius Tollenaere, Partner, Fragomen, Germany
Belén Zanzuchi, Policy Analyst, MPI Europe
Kate Hooper, Senior Policy Analyst, MPI
More information: www.migrationpolicy.org

World of Migration: The Role of Immigration as South Korea Navigates Demographic Decline

With the world’s lowest fertility rate and one of the fastest-aging populations, South Korea is confronting a shrinking workforce and mounting economic pressures. Immigration has become part of the policy conversation, but questions remain about how much it can help and how Korean society will adapt to diversity.
In this World of Migration episode, our Lawrence Huang speaks with Juyoung Jang, chief of the Policy Research Department at the Migration Research and Training Center in South Korea, about the rapid shift from being a country of emigration to one of immigration. They discuss how migration to South Korea has evolved over the past decades, how the government is expanding pathways for workers and international students, and what challenges migrants encounter – from housing and language barriers to social acceptance. Looking ahead, they consider what the next 10 to 20 years could bring as immigration, integration, and demographic change reshape South Korean society.

Changing Climate, Changing Migration: Climate Displacement from Indigenous Lands

Many Indigenous people have a deep connection to their ancestral homelands that dates back centuries. What happens when climate change and other factors force them to move away from those lands? This episode discusses issues affecting Indigenous people, especially in the Americas. Our guest is environmental scientist Jessica Hernandez, a climate justice and Indigenous advocate. She discusses the factors compelling migration for Indigenous communities, their experiences after migration, and the dearth of Indigenous voices in policy discussions over climate change and migration.

Migration amid Climate Change: Adaptation, Displacement, and People Trapped in Place

Climate change is driving and altering migration in a variety of ways. Patterns of human movement often differ in the face of fast-moving environmental disasters such as floods and wildfires, versus slow-onset changes including extreme heat, drought, and sea-level rise. Other factors, including the resilience of a community’s infrastructure and their dependence on agricultural livelihoods, can help determine whether, when, and how people migrate. 
At the same time, leaving home can be a way for individuals to adapt to a more precarious climate. The money that migrants earn and send back can help families and communities invest in defenses against changing climates and ultimately help them stay in place long term. As the effects of climate change increase globally in the coming years, the ramifications for human migration—as well as forced immobility—will only grow. 
On this webinar, speakers discuss on-the-ground experiences of climate change and migration in East Africa, South Asia, and other global contexts.
 
Speakers:
Julian Hattem, Editor, Migration Information Source, MPI; Author, Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration
Rose Kobusinge, Founder and Director, Vital Crest Foundation
Zahid Amin Shashoto, Head of Program, Climate Change and Water Governance, Uttaran, Bangladesh
Opening Remarks:  Andrew Selee, President, MPI
Moderator:  Lawrence Huang, Policy Analyst, MPI 
www.migrationpolicy.org
MPI’s related resource can be found at: https://bit.ly/climateandmigration
Listen to MPI’s podcast Changing Climate, Changing Migration at https://bit.ly/ClimateMigrationPod
Check out Julian Hattem’s book “Shelter from the Storm: How Climate Change Is Creating a New Era of Migration” – https://bit.ly/climatemigration-hattem
 

Changing Climate, Changing Migration: Is Climate-Vulnerable Africa Prepared for Increased Displacement?

Africa may be the most climate-vulnerable region of the world, with drought, extreme heat and storms, and other impacts affecting millions across the continent. These environmental events have forced people from their homes and in some cases even contributed to conflict between different groups. By far, most climate-affected individuals who migrate stay either within their own country or go elsewhere on the continent, rather than migrating beyond Africa.
How prepared is the continent for a future of increased displacement? Governments are making some strides to accommodate displaced people—although there is often a gap between official rhetoric and the realities on the ground. This episode discusses climate-linked migration issues across Africa with Aimée-Noël Mbiyozo, a senior research consultant at the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies.

Beyond “Shock and Awe”: Immigration Actions in the First Year under Trump 2.0

During the first year of his second term, President Donald Trump and his administration moved to enact sweeping changes to all corners of the U.S. immigration system. A mass deportations campaign that touched cities across the United States with an unprecedented show of force. Pause to refugee resettlement and asylum case processing. Bans and restrictions on legal immigration from 39 countries. Creation of a Trump “gold card” for wealthy individuals. And a repointing that forced immigration to the top of the foreign policy agenda with many countries.
Collectively, the administration’s actions and the resulting impacts on individuals, U.S. communities, job sectors, and the perception of the United States globally will be felt for years, if not decades, to come.
On this webinar, MPI analysts and a veteran journalist assess the actions taken during the administration’s first year back in office, sifting through what is signal and what is noise. They detail the legal picture and analyze the actual effects of the most consequential policy agenda that has been advanced in decades, including its effects on the labor market, U.S. communities, and future immigration to the United States. The conversation accompanied the release of a new analysis of the immigration actions taken during the first year of the second Trump term: Unleashing Power in New Ways: Immigration in the First Year of Trump 2.0
Speakers include: 
Kathleen Bush-Joseph, Policy Analyst, MPI
Muzaffar Chishti, Senior Fellow, MPI
Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, MPI
Nick Miroff, Staff Writer covering immigration, The Atlantic
Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, Associate Policy Analyst, MPI

The Role of Counselling & Reintegration Support in Shaping Migrants’ Return Decisions

Counselling and reintegration assistance have become central tools for European governments aiming to incentivize and support the uptake of assisted return among migrants facing a return order. In recent years, the European Union has allocated more resources to strengthening these mechanisms, and Dutch policymakers have similarly undertaken efforts to encourage assisted return. Yet the actual influence of actions on migrants’ return decisions remains widely debated. New evidence from the Netherlands offers a clearer picture of how these forms of support function in practice, what shapes migrants’ decision-making, and what kinds of interventions make a meaningful difference.
This Migration Policy Institute Europe webinar explores the findings of its study for the Research and Data Centre (WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security. The study analyses nearly 118,000 case files from the Dutch Government’s Repatriation and Departure Service (DTenV), combined with interviews with dozens of experts as well as Iraqi and Nigerian migrants who left the Netherlands after receiving a return order. 
Speakers discuss how timing, counselling approaches, and partnerships shape the potential for counselling to create space for meaningful conversation and results in the returns space. They also focus on practical steps to strengthen investments in this area. 
 
Speakers include: 
Elena Cavagni, Project Leader, Dutch Council for Refugees
Osita Osemene, Project Director, Patriotic Citizen Initiatives (PCI) Nigeria
Ravenna Sohst, Policy Analyst, MPI Europe
Claudia van der Horst, Senior Advisor, Knowledge and Strategy, Repatriation and Departure Service, Ministry of Asylum and Migration, The Netherlands
Moderator: Camille Le Coz, Director, MPI Europe
More information: www.migrationpolicy.org
Related Report: To Leave or Stay? Examining the Role of Counseling and Reintegration Assistance in the Return Decision-Making of Migrants Ordered to Leave the Netherlands
 

World of Migration: Humanitarian Assistance in a Time of Deep Foreign Aid Cuts

Foreign aid budgets have been slashed significantly by governments in the United States, Europe, and beyond, raising questions about what humanitarian assistance will look like in practice. Recent and abrupt funding cuts by major donors are already affecting refugee-hosting countries, where resources were strained even before these changes.
In this episode of World of Migration, host Lawrence Huang speaks with Micheal Gumisiriza, a program lead based in southwest Uganda for COHERE, an international NGO that works with refugee-led organizations, about how funding cuts by international donors are being felt on the ground—from food assistance and access to essential medicines to education. They discuss what the immediate impacts reveal about the humanitarian system’s capacity under pressure, and what “localization” could realistically mean as humanitarian response efforts adjust to a period of shrinking resources.
 

Changing Climate, Changing Migration: Trapped by Climate Change: The Economics of Staying or Leaving

It is not guaranteed that someone harmed by a natural disaster or other environmental change will leave their home. A complicated web of factors affects whether climate-vulnerable individuals want to—or even can—move. One of these factors is financial: How much money or other resources someone has at their disposal.
In this episode, we speak with Kelsea Best of The Ohio State University about climate (im)mobility and the economic and other factors that help shape futures amid changing climates. We also discuss the notion of “climate gentrification,” which occurs when wealthier people move into traditionally lower-income neighborhoods that are better shielded from natural disasters and other environmental harms.

Achieving the "Quadruple Win": Labor Migration Strategies for Europe to Meet its Skill Needs

Europe’s demand for workers is growing across a wide range of skill levels, with more than three-quarters of small- and medium-sized enterprises struggling to find workers with the right skills. Meeting these labor needs will be essential to sustaining economic growth and competitiveness yet will prove even more challenging as workforces shrink and the digital and green transitions reshape which skills are most valued. At the same time, countries worldwide are competing to attract talent in critical sectors such as health care and construction, making it more important than ever that strategies to attract workers are designed to benefit both migrant-receiving and sending countries. 
To ensure that labor migration works for everyone involved, the European Union has promoted a "quadruple win" approach, aiming to benefit employers, workers, and sending and receiving countries. In addition to targeted mobility partnerships with sending countries, European governments are expressing a broader interest in the lessons from existing labor migration corridors to expand opportunities for partnerships that combine support for the movement of talent with investments in local skills development. 
This webinar features discussion of a study by the Migration Policy Institute and MPI Europe, commissioned by the European Commission, which examines best practices for designing and managing labor migration corridors between EU Member States and partner countries. Experts discuss findings from the research, which examines the Bangladesh-Portugal, India-Germany, Peru-Italy, Senegal-Spain, and Vietnam-Hungary corridors and offers insights on how to connect employers and workers, promote skills development, protect migrant workers, and maximize benefits for countries of origin and destination alike.Speakers: 
Sonam Denzongpa, Consultant, Emigration Policy & Welfare Division, Ministry of External Affairs, India
Shakirul Islam, Chairperson, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program, Bangladesh
Francesco Luciani, Head of the Migration and Forced Displacement Unit, Directorate-General for International Partnerships, European Commission
Ravenna Sohst, Policy Analyst, MPI Europe
Moderator: Kate Hooper, Senior Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Report is available at:  https://bit.ly/migrationcorridorsEU
More information is available at: www.migrationpolicy.org

U.S. Immigration Courts at a Crisis Point

Backlogs in the nation’s immigration courts have reached record levels in recent years, with nearly 4 million removals cases pending—adding new pressures to longstanding challenges that have overwhelmed the courts. With it now taking an average of four years for an asylum applicant to get a hearing, the delays are undermining the goals of both the U.S. asylum and immigration enforcement systems.
This discussion draws on an MPI policy brief that examines how the immigration courts have reached a point of crisis, with panelists focusing on how the courts have been shaped by the policies of the current administration and its predecessor.
The conversation also touched upon the administrative and legislative reforms that are urgently needed to transform the system, key among them increased funding for the courts, commensurate with the historic spending on immigration enforcement included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 
 
Speakers: 
Kathleen Bush-Joseph, Policy Analyst, MPI
Muzaffar Chishti, Senior Fellow, MPI
Chiqui Sanchez Kennedy, Executive Director, Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project
Kyra S. Lilien, Former Immigration Judge, Concord Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Department of Justice
Moderator: Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, MPI
 
Report available at https://bit.ly/immig-courts
More information at www.migrationpolicy.org 

Changing Climate, Changing Migration: The Young Lives Uprooted by Climate Change

Children are especially vulnerable to displacement linked to climate change. Each year, millions of young people are displaced by weather-related disasters, as schools and other services break down and adults send children away to find safety. Forced from their homes, children often face new challenges, including being unable to access education or medical care, and even heightened risk of violence and other dangers. Despite the unique challenges that children face in displacement, there are relatively few international laws or systems particularly designed to assist those forced to move because of environmental factors. We speak with UNICEF’s Laura Healy about this reality and the opportunities to better protect children in a warming world.

Changing Climate, Changing Migration: Will Climate Change Push Some People into Statelessness?

Within the next few decades, rising sea levels could wipe some small Pacific Island nations off the face of the earth. The prospect that the physical territory of countries such as Kiribati and Tuvalu is no longer habitable raises the prospect that their nationals could lose their citizenship, becoming stateless. It also poses profound questions for international law and the obligations of other countries.
How likely is this possible outcome, and what can countries do to protect their sovereignty and their citizens? Join our discussion with Mark Nevitt, an international law scholar at the Emory University School of Law.

World of Migration: Humanitarian Protection at a Crossroads: What Future for the Strained Refugee System?

The global humanitarian protection system is at a critical juncture. It is under major strain as record numbers of people have been forced out of their homes by a complex array of factors and protracted crises. Yet at the same time, a system created in the wake of World War II no longer meets today’s challenges and is increasingly coming under political pressures, with some countries chafing at protection obligations.
In this episode of the World of Migration podcast, one of the leading voices in the humanitarian protection world, Vincent Cochetel, discusses the future of refugee protection and the evolution of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) with Meghan Benton, MPI’s director of global programs.

Immigration and Democracy: Rebuilding Trust in a Changing Europe

Public trust in migration systems—and in democracy more broadly—is eroding. As rapid demographic shifts fuel anxieties in many communities, governments are feeling the pressure and responding with increasingly restrictive policies—scaling back immigration, imposing stricter integration requirements, and narrowing pathways to long-term residency and citizenship. 
Will these sweeping, highly visible policies designed to signal control meaningfully address the real pressures communities face and restore trust in the democratic institutions charged with governing migration?
This discussion, held in Berlin in collaboration with the Robert Bosch Stiftung, examines the relationship between migration policy, integration approaches, public trust, and democratic resilience in Europe and beyond. Looking at new research on public attitudes toward immigration and institutional trust, speakers explore how migration policy decisions—not just political narratives—shape public opinion and societal well-being.
 
Speakers:
Meghan Benton, Director of Global Programs, Migration Policy Institute (MPI) 
Ben Mason-Sucher, Program Lead,Migration, More in Common Germany
Frank Sharry, Consultant, British Future; an advisor to the Kamala Harris campaign; former head of U.S. immigrant-rights organizations 
Ulrich Weinbrenner, Former Director General for Migration, Refugees, and Return Policy, German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community 

On the Move: Rapidly Evolving Migration Trends and Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean

No single world region has experienced a greater relative increase in international migration since 2010 than Latin America and the Caribbean. Buffeted by displacement crises, economic dislocation, and changing migrant demographics, Latin America and the Caribbean have seen migration become one of the most pressing issues of our time. And while movement from the region toward the United States has dominated much of the public discourse, in fact, most migrants from the region remain within Latin America and the Caribbean.
How are these countries responding to this new reality?
In a newly published Stanford University Press book, On the Move: Migration Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, Migration Policy Institute (MPI) President Andrew Selee and coauthors Valerie Lacarte, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, and Diego Chaves-González offer the first comprehensive look at policy responses by governments in the region and shed light on the lesser-known dynamics of migration in, to, and through the region.
Through compelling storytelling and rigorous analysis, the authors uncover how governments and societies in Latin America and the Caribbean are adapting—unevenly, yet innovatively—to an era of unprecedented human mobility.
This webinar features discussion of the authors’ key findings, surprising patterns, and the urgent policy questions facing Latin America and the Caribbean today.
Speakers: 
Andrew Selee, President, MPI
Valerie Lacarte, Senior Policy Analyst, MPI
Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Senior Policy Analyst, MPI
Diego Chaves-González, Senior Manager, Latin America and Caribbean Initiative, MPI
Opening Comments by:Roberta S. Jacobson, Founding Partner, Dinámica Americas; former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico 

Changing Climate, Changing Migration: Connecting the Dots: How Climate Detectives Link Human-Caused Environmental Change to Migration

It is no easy task to say with certainty that a particular storm, drought, or other extreme weather event causes human displacement, or that those individual events are due to human-caused climate change. Hurricanes, wildfires, mudslides, monsoons, and other sudden-onset events, as well as slow-onset ones such as drought, extreme heat, and sea-level rise have happened for millennia. To attribute specific impacts to human-made environmental change requires scientists to parse through years of data and pattern detection. In this episode, we speak with climate scientist Lisa Thalheimer, of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, to explain how experts untangle the connections between climate change and migration.