Federal Update: A Conversation on Language Access with the US Dept. of Justice

Photo by Flickr user Greg115, Creative Commons

This MPI webinar features US Department of Justice (DOJ) officials discussing the department’s efforts to improve communications with Limited English Proficient (LEP) communities in federal and federally-funded programs and activities. Laureen Laglagaron, an Attorney-Advisor in the department’s Federal Coordination and Compliance Section of the Civil Rights Division and Christine Stoneman, Special Counsel in the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section will an update on the progress of language access compliance at the federal level and discuss how the agency is continuing to provide oversight and technical assistance to states and localities as they too attempt to meet their language access responsibilities. This webinar is moderated by Chhandasi Pandya, a policy analyst at MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.
Download the PowerPoint |  View other webinars on MPI's Language Portal

Uyen Nguyen and James Huy Bao Accepts MPI’s Young Innovators Award

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

Open Society Foundations President Aryeh Neier Accepts MPI’s Global Visionary Award

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

Hon. Alan K. Simpson and Hon. Romano “Ron” Mazzoli Accepts MPI’s Leadership in Public Policy Award

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

MPI Briefing on Generational Gains Made by Immigrant-Origin Young Adults

This Migration Policy Institute briefing discusses the release of a major MPI report, Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults, which examines the educational and workforce attainment of immigrant-origin young adults between the ages of 16-26, finding significant gains in particular for second-generation Hispanic women when it comes to college enrollment. Moderating the discussion is Margie McHugh, Co-Director of MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. Report co-authors Michael Fix, MPI Senior Vice President and Director of Studies, and Jeanne Batalova, MPI Policy Analyst, discuss the report findings. Providing comments on the report are Andrew P. Kelly, Research Fellow, Education Policy, American Enterprise Institute, and Raul González, Director of Legislative Affairs, National Council of La Raza (NCLR).
Archive of the event video available here.

Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults

During this 30-minute presentation, Migration Policy Institute Senior Vice President Michael Fix and Policy Analyst Jeanne Batalova discuss their report, Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults, which profiles the population of first- and second-generation young adults in the United States between the ages of 16 and 26. These young adults from immigrant families, numbering 11.3 million, represent one in four people in the United States between the ages of 16-26 and account for half of the growth of the young adult population between 1995 and 2010. This report, done through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, finds substantial generational progress in terms of high school graduation, college enrollment, and ability to earn family-sustaining wages. Second-generation Hispanic women are faring particularly well, with college enrollment rates equal to those of third-generation non-Hispanic white women. However, they are not graduating from college at the same rate or on the same timeline because of family, work, or economic reasons. The report sketches how postsecondary education, workforce development, and language training programs could better meet the needs of this population, which will assume a greater role as the US workforce ages.

9/11 and Immigration: Major Immigration Changes in the Decade since 9/11

The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) held a conference call to discuss the most significant changes that have occurred in the immigration arena in the decade since the September 11, 2001 attacks. MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner, commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service during the 1990s, and Muzaffar Chishti, director of MPI’s office at NYU School of Law, provided analysis on the realignment of the U.S. immigration system – ranging from new enforcement programs and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security to changed visa policies and the rise of state and local actors. Both are co-authors of MPI’s new Fact Sheet, Through the Prism of National Security: Major Immigration Policy and Program Changes in the Decade since 9/11, which details the major immigration policy, budget and organizational changes that have occurred as an outgrowth of 9/11.

Proactive Engagement: Two Strategies for Providing Language Access in Workforce Development Services

Inadequate interpretation services, a lack of relevant translated materials and customer service that is not culturally competent often deter limited English proficient (LEP) individuals from accessing workforce services through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)-funded One Stop system. This interactive language access webinar, one in a series offered by the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, examines how New York and Illinois have broken down some of these barriers to proactively engage LEP communities to obtain workforce services. The need to ensure meaningful access to WIA-funded employment and training services for the large share of US low- and middle-skilled LEP workers is urgent, particularly in light of the tough job market and gloomy projections for the speed of recovery from the Great Recession. These featured approaches, which have entailed policy and programmatic fixes, can serve as models as states attempt to meet the workforce needs of their LEP populations and comply with federal requirements to provide meaningful language access in their federally funded programs.
Speakers are:
Julio Rodriguez, Director of Program Services, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
Haeya Yim, Counsel, Division of Immigrant Policies and Affairs, New York Department of Labor
Kerry Douglas-Duffy, Workforce Development Program Specialist, Division of Employment and Workforce Solutions, New York Department of Labor
Chhandasi Pandya, Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute
Download the PowerPoint here.

Labor Standards Enforcement and Low-Wage Immigrants: Creating an Effective Enforcement System

This Migration Policy Institute webinar discusses labor enforcement laws during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations and chronicles gaps in labor protection. Donald M. Kerwin, MPI Vice President for Programs and author of MPI’s report, Labor Standards Enforcement and Low-Wage Immigrants: Creating an Effective Enforcement System, argues that enforcement of labor laws should become a higher priority, particularly amid high rates of unemployment and underemployment. He also discusses the view that labor standards enforcement should become a pillar of immigration policymaking and sketches the elements necessary for an effective labor standards enforcement system.
The webinar powerpoint is available here.

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

Right to Counsel: New Ideas and Opportunities for Indigent Defense

This panel examines whether there is meaningful opportunity to expand legal counsel for indigent persons in removal proceedings, and what those vehicles may be. It also discusses recommendations to policymakers set forth by different groups for ensuring access to counsel. Session speakers include Geoffrey Heeren, Fellow, Center for Applied Legal Studies, Georgetown University Law Center; Asa Hutchinson, former Undersecretary, US Department of Homeland Security and Partner, The Asa Hutchinson Law Group; and Daniel Olmos, Senior Counsel, Access to Justice Initiative, US Department of Justice. Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Deputy Director of the Georgetown University Institute for the Study of International Migration, moderates the panel.
Video for the 8th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference can be found here.

Detention Reform: Standards, Alternatives, and Vulnerable Populations

This panel discusses US Department of Homeland Security’s detention reform efforts, challenges to reform, civil detention standards, alternative detention models, alternatives “to” and alternative “forms” of detention, the treatment of particularly vulnerable populations, and legal challenges to the US detention regime. Session speakers include Michelle Brané, Director, Detention and Asylum Program, Women’s Refugee Commission; Mary Meg McCarthy, Executive Director, National Immigrant Justice Center-A Heartland Alliance Partner; Julie Myers Wood, Former Director, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and President, Immigration and Customs Solutions, LLC; and Margo Schlanger, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, US Department of Homeland Security. Donald Kerwin, MPI Vice President for Programs, moderates the panel.
Video for the 8th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference can be found here. Related research: Immigrant Detention: Can ICE Meet its Legal Imperatives and Case Management Responsibilities? Local Enforcement Response to Illegal Immigration

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.

Devolution of Immigration Authority: The Role of States in Immigration Enforcement and Policymaking

With Washington ceding action on immigration policymaking to the states, the panelists for this opening panel of the 8th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference discuss legislative actions in individual states and the role of state and local law enforcement agencies in immigration enforcement. Panelists are: Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, former Arizona Attorney General (and former Phoenix Mayor) Terry Goddard, and ImmigrationWorks President Tamar Jacoby. Migration Policy Institute Senior Fellow Doris Meissner moderates the panel discussion.
Video for the 8th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference can be found here.

The Utah Experience by Mark Shurtleff

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff kicks off the 8th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference (held by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC in April 2011) with a speech focused on his state's novel approach to immigration policymaking and the role the Utah Compact played in re-orienting the debate. The Utah Compact was developed over several months by groups and individuals concerned about the tone of Utah’s immigration discussion. Shurtleff is now leading the campaign for a National Compact mirrored on the Utah Compact. Shurtleff was introduced by Migration Policy Institute President Demetrios Papademetriou.
Video for the 8th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference can be found here.

State and Local Agencies & Immigration Enforcement: Growing Role, Growing Questions

This panel examines the federal/state partnerships related to immigration enforcement, including a discussion of 287(g) agreements and Secure Communities, the increasing role played by state and local law enforcement, and the impact of these federal and state immigration measures, including local community perspective. Panelists include Charlie T. Deane, Chief of Police, Prince William County Police Department; Laura G. McHenry, Senior Attorney/Director of Training, Immigration Services, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Atlanta; Michele Waslin, Senior Policy Analyst, Immigration Policy Center, American Immigration Council; and Chuck Wexler, Executive Director, Police Executive Research Forum. The panel is moderated by Maria M. Odom, Executive Director of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.
Video for the 8th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference can be found here. Related research: Delegation and Divergence: A Study of 287(g) State and Local Immigration Enforcement

Lessons from the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act

At this Migration Policy Institute (MPI) event, Public Policy Institute of California researchers Magnus Lofstrom and Sarah Bohn discuss their new PPIC report, Lessons from the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act. Bruce A. Morrison, who served as Chairman of the House immigration subcommittee during his tenure in Congress as a representative from Connecticut and was also a member of the US Commission on Immigration Reform, provides comments on the report. The event is moderated by MPI Senior Policy Analyst Marc Rosenblum.
Watch video of the event here.

Six Steps to Fix the US Immigration System: What Can the Administration Do?

At this event, MPI releases a new report, Executive Action on Immigration: Six Ways to Make the System Work Better, that outlines recommendations for executive actions that the administration can implement to improve the immigration system. Here to discuss their report are the authors: Donald Kerwin, MPI Vice President for Programs; Doris Meissner, Director, US Immigration Policy Program at MPI; and Margie McHugh, Co-Director of MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. Joining the discussion are: Eva Millona, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Coalition, and Juan P. Osuna, Acting Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the US Department of Justice.

Delegation and Divergence: A Study of 287(g) State and Local Immigration Enforcement

This event discusses the release of the MPI report, Delegation and Divergence: A Study of 287(g) State and Local Immigration Enforcement. The report, and the discussion, assessed implementation and U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) oversight of the nation’s 72 active 287(g) programs, examining whether local enforcement matches up with ICE’s articulated priorities. The study provides ICE data nationally and by jurisdiction on non-citizens referred for removal through 287(g) as well as the criminal offenses for which they were detained, and assesses the impact of enforcement on local communities. The discussion was opened by Muzaffar Chishti, Director, MPI office at NYU School of Law, then followed by report author Randy Capps, MPI Demographer and Senior Policy Analyst. Also commenting was LeRoy Kirkegard, Captain of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO).
Download the report here.
Watch event audio here.

Using Translation and Interpretation Technology to Serve Limited English Proficient Individuals

This webinar held on January 25, 2011 focused on MPI’s report entitled Communicating More for Less: Using Translation and Interpretation Technology to Serve Limited English Proficient Individuals. The discussion was moderated by Margie McHugh, Co-Director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. The speaker for the webinar was Jessica Sperling the report author and a researcher on language access issues.
For more information on MPI’s language access work, visit www.migrationpolicy.org/integration.