Effective Labour Migration Management Session I: Integrating labour migration into modern European economies

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 when trying to design an 'optimally balanced' labor migration policy. This panel was the first of two, and focused on key questions such as: how can policymakers strike a balance between integrating migrant workers with the right mix of skills to support economic growth and demographic sustainability, and reduce the cost of immigration for public budgets and the local labour market and society? Can governments minimise the costs of immigration by limiting either access or rights for lower-skilled migrants? And what needs to be done today to forge a fair deal on talent in the medium term? It also served as the Brussels launch of Martin Ruhs’ book, The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labour Migration. The session is moderated by MPI Senior Policy Analyst Madeleine Sumption and features author and Oxford University Lecturer Martin Ruhs, Bertelmann Stiftung’s Christal Morehouse, and Thomas Liebig, of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Tackling Brain Waste among Immigrant Professionals: Initiatives to Improve the Recognition of Foreign Qualifications

This Migration Policy Institute panel discussion focuses on the circulation of skilled immigrant professionals and the recognition of foreign qualifications in the United States and Europe. The event brought together experts and policymakers from both sides of the Atlantic to discuss what governments can do to improve the recognition of foreign credentials — particularly in regulated occupations where time-consuming and expensive licensing processes can substantially delay access to skilled employment. The discussion highlights promising practices (including an example from Quebec), and identifies ways US policymakers can learn from European innovations in qualifications recognition and how international cooperation can help — both across the Atlantic and further afield. The event coincided with the release of the final report of a two-year research initiative funded by the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. Read the report: Skilled Immigrants in the Global Economy: Prospects for International Cooperation on Recognition of Foreign Qualifications.

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

In this panel discussion at the Migration Policy Institute, Morten Kjaerum, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and former Founding Director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, discussed the state of rights protection in Europe as well as his agency’s role in this evolving arena. The FRA’s goal is to promote understanding and secure fundamental rights in the European Union, and the discussion explored the organization’s work collecting and analyzing hard-to-find data, and its strategies for using this to combat discrimination against migrants and other minority populations. Other speakers focused on the evolution of the immigrant-rights movement in the United States, with comments by Lucas Guttentag, Founder and former National Director and Senior Advisor of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project; Wade Henderson, President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; and Becky Monroe, Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The speakers discussed shared challenges and opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic, a conversation that was particularly relevant in light of the loss of human life at Lampedusa and the deportation of a teenage Roma girl seeking asylum in France. The panel was moderated by MPI Senior Vice President Michael Fix.

Sharing Lessons, Sharing Responsibility: Combating Human Trafficking

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.

Rethinking National Identity in the Age of Migration

In this Migration Policy Institute event on October 24, speakers discuss the anti-immigrant political movement in Europe (particularly France and the Netherlands) and the United States, the players who contribute to this environment, an analysis on the current situation in these countries, and the implications for community cohesion and national identity. Speakers: Patrick Simon, Director of Research, Institut national d’études démographiques, and Researcher at the Center for European Studies at Sciences Po, Paris; Cas Mudde, Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia; National Council of La Raza Executive Vice President Charles Kamasaki; and America’s Voice Executive Director Frank Sharry. Moderated by MPI President Demetrios G. Papademetriou.
View Cas Mudde's PowerPoint Presentation |  View Patrick Simon's PowerPoint Presentation

Engaging Diasporas in Europe for Development

In this Migration Policy Institute Europe event in Brussels, the co-author of a diaspora engagement handbook published by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and International Organization for Migration (IOM), Kathleen Newland, leads a discussion on the newly released book entitled Developing a Road Map for Engaging Diasporas in Development. Panelists are: Frank Laczko, Head of Research and Publications, IOM; handbook co-author Dovelyn Agunias, a policy and research analyst for both MPI and IOM; Eva Åkerman-Börje, Swedish Ambassador for the Global Forum on Migration and Development; Rodrigo Ballester, Policy Officer, Directorate-General for Home Affairs, European Commission; Santo Deng, President, Board of the Diaspora Forum for Development.
For more information on visit www.thediasporahandbook.org. For more information, visit www.MPIEurope.org.

The Role of National Governments in Promoting Immigrant Integration

Migration Policy Institute (MPI) President Demetrios G. Papademetriou leads a discussion on the complexities of managing an effective immigrant integration system and creating policies and initiatives that support the success of immigrants and their families in their new host societies. Discussants include Rosario Farmhouse, High Commissioner for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue in Portugal; Alejandro Mayorkas, Director, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, US Department of Homeland Security; Jasenko Selimovic, State Secretary to the Minister for Integration in Sweden; and Peter Sylvester, Associate Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
For immigrant integration resources from MPI, visit www.migrationpolicy.org/integration. For international migration resources, visit www.migrationpolicy.org/transatlantic.

Rethinking European Identity in the Age of Immigration and Official Launch of MPI Europe

This panel discussion in Brussels, upon the official launch of Migration Policy Institute Europe, explores what is driving societal discontent in Europe, the role immigration plays in this, and why there is a growing perception that immigrant integration efforts are failing. The Migration Policy Institute has been active in the European immigration debate for nearly a decade. In recognition of MPI's ever closer engagement with immigration policymakers and stakeholders in Europe, MPI Europe has been established in Brussels as a nonprofit research institute dedicated to the promotion of a better understanding of migration in Europe. Moderating the discussion is Elizabeth Collett, Director, MPI Europe. Panelists are Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs; Charles Clarke, former UK Home Secretary and Member of MPI’s Transatlantic Council on Migration; Demetrios Papademetriou, President of MPI and MPI Europe; and Patrick Simon, Director of Research for Institut National d'Etudes Demographíques (INED).
For more information and to sign up for updates, visit MPIEurope.org.
Watch the event here.
Read MPI’s related reports:
Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future By Will Kymlicka
The Role of the State in Cultural Integration: Trends, Challenges, and Ways Ahead By Christian Joppke
The Centrality of Employment in Immigrant Integration in Europe By Randall Hansen
Rethinking National Identity in the Age of Migration By Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Migration and Great Recession: The Transatlantic Experience

This Migration Policy Institute event was held to discuss the release of a new Migration Policy Institute book, Migration and the Great Recession: The Transatlantic Experience, which reviews how the financial and economic crisis of the late 2000s marked a sudden and dramatic interruption in international migration trends, and the effects of the economic turmoil on immigrant workers in major immigrant-receiving countries in Europe as well as the United States. Among the questions posed during the discussion: What will be the legacy of the crisis for immigrant workers and their families in coming years? How have the impacts of the recession on immigrant workers themselves, and responses of publics and politicians, differed on both sides of the Atlantic? Speakers are: volume editors Demetrios Papademetriou, Madeleine Sumption, and Aaron Terrazas, of MPI; Chad Stone, Chief Economist, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and Gallya Lahav, Associate Professor of Political Science, State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Watch Event Video | Order the Book | View US Powerpoint | View EU Powerpoint

The Final Arbiters: When Immigration Policies Come Before the Courts

This panel discusses the prospects and possible outcomes of litigation involving some critical issues in the current political debate: challenges to the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship, right of basic public education under Plyler v Doe, and the extent to which states and localities can enact laws affecting the foreign born. Muzaffar Chishti, Director of the Migration Policy Institute’s Office at the NYU Law School, opens the panel discussion, followed by Omar Jadwat from ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. Also on the panel are former Department of Homeland Security Deputy General Counsel David A. Martin, who is Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law at the University of Virginia’s Law School, and Michael Wishnie, Clinical Professor at Yale Law School.
Video for the 8th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference can be found here.

Immigrant Integration in Europe in a Time of Austerity

This panel discussion in London, supported by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, brought together experts from the worlds of policy and academia to take stock of the impact of the financial crisis on immigration and integration. The event also featured the release of two publications by the Migration Policy Institute’s Transatlantic Council on Migration: The book, Prioritizing Integration, which takes stock of the fallout from the economic slowdown on immigration in Europe and the United States; and the report, Immigrant Integration in a Time of Austerity, which examines the actions some European governments are taking with respect to immigrant integration programs. Details on both publications can be found here. The discussion begins with Barrow Cadbury Trust Chief Executive Sara Llewellin; other participants are MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou; UK Equality and Human Rights Commission Chair Trevor Philips; Nicolas Marugan Zalba, Director of the Spanish Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia, Ministry of Labour and Immigration, Spain; and Transatlantic Council Senior Advisor Elizabeth Collett.

The Politics of Citizenship in Europe in an Era of Integration Challenges

A book discussion with Marc Morjé Howard, Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown University, and Demetrios G. Papademetriou, President, MPI. In his book, The Politics of Citizenship in Europe, Marc Morjé Howard explores the citizenship process in different European countries and how it impacts immigrant integration.

Talent, Competitiveness, and Migration

Book release and discussion with Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President; Michael S. Teitelbaum, Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Carl Haub, Senior Demographer and Conrad Taeuber Chair of Public Information, Population Reference Bureau; and Joseph J. Minarik, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, Committee for Economic Development. Purchase Book: US orders | International orders