With global mobility on the rise, the international community is finally grappling with the challenge of stranded migrants, one of the main agenda items for the High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development in the UN General Assembly in October 2013. In this podcast, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General William Lacy Swing reflects on IOM’s long experience with stranded migrants and the ways in which the organization is preparing proactively to address their needs. He explains IOM’s approaches in the context of the High-Level Dialogue and the opportunity it presents for states to come together to address the new migration challenges of the 21st century. InterAction President and CEO Sam Worthington joins Ambassador Swing to discuss how NGOs work with governments and other organizations to address the needs of the most vulnerable populations and protect them from abuses often suffered by migrants. This event was moderated by Kathleen Newland, who directs MPI’s Migrants, Migration, and Development Program.

For more information, visit http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/migration_development.php.

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This Migration Policy Institute event discussed the Dutch model for fighting human trafficking and the strategic and operational dilemmas that public prosecutors in the Netherlands face. The event discussion also covered international efforts to engage private-sector organizations and the public in reducing organized crime; ways to strengthen law enforcement’s operational capacity and ability to apply collaborative and interagency approaches; and strategies for framing the public and political discourse on the issue. Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President, moderates a discussion on the international efforts to engage private-sector organizations, law enforcement, governments, and the public in reducing organized crime to combat human trafficking. Panelists include Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen, National Rapporteur for Human Trafficking in The Netherlands; Jane Nady Sigmon, Senior Advisor to the Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, US Department of State; Herman Bolhaar, Chair of the Dutch Public Prosecution Service; Jack Blakey, Chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau, Cook County, Illinois State Attorney’s Office; and Ruud Bik, Deputy Chief, National Police of the Netherlands.

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This Migration Information Source Q&A explores the dire medical emergency and refugee health concerns resulting from the ongoing Syrian crisis. Amber French, editor of the Migration Information Source, which is the online journal of the Migration Policy Institute, conducts a Q&A with Dr. Fadi Al Khankan of the Syrian Expatriates Organization and MPI’s Kathleen Newland, both panelists at the January 14, 2013 MPI event unveiling the International Rescue Committee’s report, Syria: A Regional Crisis. Read the transcript of the Q&A here.

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This joint Migration Policy Institute and International Rescue Committee (IRC) event offers insights from an IRC delegation that visited Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq in November 2012 to discuss the Syrian humanitarian crisis. The briefing offers a firsthand look at the work of IRC partners and staff who are directly involved in providing assistance to refugees and to Syrians trapped inside the country. Presenting findings of an IRC report on the topic: George Rupp, President and Chief Executive Officer, IRC; Mort Abramowitz, a Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation, former US Ambassador to Turkey, and IRC Overseer; and Fadi Al Khankan, Chair of the Humanitarian Aid Committee, Syrian Expatriates Organization. The briefing is moderated by Kathleen Newland, Director of the Migration Policy Institute’s programs on Refugee Policy and Migrants, Migration, and Development. Ms. Newland is also an IRC Overseer.

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Capping a two-year research initiative on young children in Black immigrant families from Africa and the Caribbean, this Migration Policy Institute (MPI) book launch and discussion in December 2012 features research contained in Young Children of Black Immigrants in America: Changing Flows, Changing Faces. The discussion, moderated by MPI Senior Vice President Michael Fix (book co-editor), features researchers Kevin Thomas (book co-author) of Penn State University, Randy Capps of MPI (book co-editor), Dylan Patricia Conger (book co-author) of George Washington University, and Gerald Jaynes of Yale University. Ajay Chaudry, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy in the US Department of Health and Human Services, offers a policy perspective on the research. For more on the research initiative, visit www.migrationpolicy.org/cbi.

Purchase a copy of the book

View Kevin Thomas's Power Point |  View Dylan Conger's Power Point

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At the 9th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference sponsored by the Migration Policy Institute, Georgetown University Law Center, Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC), and the Center for Migration Studies, Don Kerwin from the Center for Migration Studies moderates a session on US refugee policy and the system in place for processing and protection.  US Coast Guard Senior Maritime Law Enforcement Advisor Louis Orsini discusses the logistics of interdiction at sea, including the process for identifying those who may fear persecution or torture; US Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Refugee Affairs Division Chief Barbara Strack presents on USCIS's coordination with the Coast Guard, the protection screening for those interdicted at sea, and broader refugee screening and resettlement process; and Andrew Schoenholtz, Deputy Director at Georgetown's Institute for the Study of International Migration and Georgetown Law Professor, discusses his recent findings on asylum data.

For more information on the conference, click here.

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In this Migration Policy Institute (MPI) event, experts focus on the causes of the increase in unaccompanied minor migrants, the situation these minors face once detained or apprehended, and the challenges confronting both nongovernmental organizations trying to provide aid and the US government agencies responsible for processing minors through the US immigration system. Speakers include Wendy Young, Executive Director of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND); Jessica Jones, Equal Justice Works Fellow, Detention and Asylum Program, Women's Refugee Commission; and Michelle Brané, Director of the Detention and Asylum program, Women's Refugee Commission. Kathleen Newland, MPI Co-Founder and Director of the Refugee Policy and Migrants, Migration, and Development Programs moderates the panel.

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In this MPI event, Volker Türk, UNHCR Director of International Protection, discusses the current global challenges of protecting refugees. Kathleen Newland, Migration Policy Institute Co-Founder and Director of MPI's Refugee Policy and Migrants, Migration, and Development Programs, guides the discussion around three main themes: protection gaps, burden-sharing, and reducing statelessness.

MPI Resources:

A Comprehensive Approach to Refugee Protection

The United States Refugee Admissions Program: Reforms for a New Era of Refugee Resettlement

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MPI Co-Founder and Director of MPI’s Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs Kathleen Newland presents OneVietnam Network Co-Founders Uyen Nguyen and James Huy Bao for their vision and dynamism in engaging the Vietnamese diaspora in action for good through the use of new media, arts, culture, and social entrepreneurship. Their initiative is being examined as a model for other diaspora groups.

Visit www.migrationpolicy.org/celebrate10thevent

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MPI President Demetrious G. Papademetriou presents the Global Visionary Award, to honor Open Society Foundations (OSF) President Aryeh Neier for his career-long dedication to the protection and advancement of rights for the most vulnerable populations throughout the world, including refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants. In the mid-1990s, the foundation created a $50 million fund in the United States to provide naturalization and other services to immigrants and to build capacity among immigrant-rights organizations. And with the creation of OSF’s International Migration Initiative, the foundation is making a major commitment to protecting migrants around the world.

Visit www.migrationpolicy.org/celebrate10thevent

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On the 25th anniversary of implementation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, MPI honors Senator Alan Simpson for his leadership and bipartisanship in working to enact a major immigration reform measure with the interests of the country squarely in mind. Their work serves as reminder of a time when Congress was able to set aside its divisions to accomplish big things in the immigration arena. Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director of MPI’s US Immigration Policy Program, discusses with Rep. Mazzoli the implementation of IRCA.

Visit www.migrationpolicy.org/celebrate10thevent

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At this Migration Policy Institute (MPI) event, representatives from refugee groups who made a November 2010 trip to Panama and Ecuador present their findings and discuss their report, Living on the Edge: Colombian Refugees in Panama and Ecuador. The speakers are: Shaina Aber, Associate Advocacy Director for Jesuit Refugee Service/USA; and Melanie Nezer, Senior Director for US Policy and Advocacy at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Commenting is Andrea Lari, Regional Director at Refugees International. The event is moderated by Kathleen Newland, Director of MPI’s Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs.

Watch the event here.

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This briefing at the Migration Policy Institute focuses on a report examining the challenges of refugee resettlement in the United States. The report,  Refugee Resettlement in the United States: An Examination of Challenges and Proposed Solutions, was the work of a team at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), in conjunction with the International Rescue Committee. The report reviews the structure and functioning of the resettlement program and offers recommendations for improvements ranging from pre-arrival orientation through the arrival and settlement process to secondary migration from initial resettlement. The discussion was moderated by Kathleen Newland, Director of the Refugee Protection Program at the Migration Policy Institute; and the speakers were one of the report’s authors, MPI Associate Policy Analyst Kate Brick, and Robert Carey, Vice President of Resettlement and Migration Policy, International Rescue Committee. The report’s co-authors, Samia Elshafie, Alan Krill, and Megan McGlynn Scanlon also offered some comments.

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Discussion on MPI report,  Migration's Middlemen: Regulating Recruitment Agencies in the Philippines-United Arab Emirates Corridor, which examines recruiters' practices as well as their regulation by the Philippine and UAE governments, finding room for significant improvement. Speakers at the briefing: report author Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, MPI Policy Analyst; Luzviminda Padilla, Labor Attaché, Philippines Embassy in Washington; Jeni Klugman, Director, Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Program; and Kathleen Newland, MPI Director of the Migrants, Migration, and Development Program.

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