Does Low-Skilled Immigration Hurt the US Economy? Assessing the Evidence

This Migration Policy Institute event discusses the release of the MPI report, Immigration Policy and Less-skilled Workers in the United States: Reflections on Future Directions for Reform. The report, and the discussion, examine economists’ views on the costs and benefits of low-skilled immigration, and some policy options to reform the U.S. immigration system to make it more economically beneficial. Among the options discussed: Providing legal pathways for low-skilled workers, allowing less-skilled workers on employment-based visas to switch employers more easily and gain a path to citizenship, and setting employer visa fees at a level sufficient to offset some of the costs that low-skilled immigration imposes. The discussion is opened by MPI Senior Vice President, Michael Fix, followed by the report author, Harry Holzer, a professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. Commenting on the report findings are Demetrios G. Papademetriou, President, MPI; Darrell M. West, Vice President and Director of Governance Studies, Brookings Institution; and Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director of MPI’s US Immigration Policy Program.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin Addresses MPI Speakers Series

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin came to the Migration Policy Institute on Oct. 14, 2010 to address its Leadership Visions speakers series. During his remarks and Q&A with MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner and the audience, Commissioner Bersin discussed enforcement at the Southwest border, comprehensive immigration reform, security challenges, the status of the Secure Border Initiative, and other policy areas and initiatives facing his 57,000-person agency. His appearance followed earlier Leadership Visions addresses by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas and Homeland Security Assistant Secretary John Morton, who heads U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigrant Workers in the US Labor Force: Perception vs. Reality

During this presentation, Assistant U.S. Secretary for Postsecondary Education Eduardo Martín Ochoa and Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce Director Anthony P. Carnevale join Michael Fix and Margie McHugh, Co-Directors of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Immigration Policy, to discuss findings from the MPI report, Still an Hourglass? Immigrant Workers in Middle-Skilled Jobs. The moderator is MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou. The report, which examines immigrant employment in the US workforce overall and four key sectors (IT, health care, construction, and hospitality), finds that the fastest growth in immigrant employment since 2000 has occurred in middle-skilled jobs. To read the report, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/​pubs/​sectoralbrief-Sept2010.pdf.

Refugee Resettlement in the United States

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.

DREAM vs. Reality: An Analysis of Potential DREAM Act Beneficiaries

Slightly more than 2.1 million unauthorized immigrant youth and young adults could be eligible to apply for legal status under the DREAM Act legislation pending in Congress, though perhaps fewer than 40 percent would obtain legal status because of barriers limiting their ability to take advantage of the legislation’s educational and military service routes to legalization. This MPI analysis offers the most recent and detailed estimates of potential DREAM Act beneficiaries by age, education levels, gender, state of residence, and likelihood of gaining legalization.
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Migration and Occupational Health: Shining a Light on the Problem

This briefing was organized by MPI, the Migration and Health Research Center at the University of California, Davis; the Health Initiative of the Americas at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health; and the UC Global Health Institute. The briefing, which focuses on migrants’ higher rates of on-the-job injuries, was moderated by MPI Senior Vice President Michael Fix. Panelists include John Howard, Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Deborah Berkowitz, Chief of Staff, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, US Department of Labor; Marc Schenker, Director, Migration and Health Research Center, University of California, Davis; Bruce Goldstein, Executive Director, Farmworker Justice; and Xochitl Castañeda, Director, Health Initiative of the Americas, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.

MPI Leadership Visions: United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees T. Alexander Aleinikoff

During this MPI speakers series, T. Alexander Aleinikoff, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, discusses voluntary repatriation, local integration, and resettlement. Panelists include Demetrios Papademetriou, MPI President, and Kathleen Newland, MPI Director of the Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs. Click here for the Leadership Visions discussion with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Chief John Morton and here for the discussion with US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas.

Immigrants: Contributors to the Economy or Competitors for American Jobs?

The Migration Policy Institute holds a briefing to discuss the release of the latest paper by its Labor Markets Initiative: The Impact of Immigrants in Recession and Economic Expansion. Speakers are report author Giovanni Peri, UC Davis Professor of Economics; Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President, Economic Policy Institute; and Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President.

Reform of the Immigration Removal Adjudication System

During this briefing at MPI, panelists discussed possible reforms to the immigration adjudication system and a recent ground-breaking report on the topic by the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration. The event was moderated by MPI Vice President for Programs Donald Kerwin, and the panelists were: Robert A. Katzmann, US Circuit Judge, US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit; Karen T. Grisez, Chair, ABA Commission on Immigration; and Lawrence A. Schneider, Senior Partner, Arnold & Porter LLP, who led the ABA report research team.

The Federal Role in Immigrant Integration: Too Little, Too Much or Just Right? Panel II

This panel discussion, held in conjunction with the awards ceremony for the 2010 E Pluribus Unum Prizes for exceptional immigrant integration initiatives, examines the federal role in immigrant integration policy more broadly, focusing on areas where greater coordination and funding appear to be needed. The panel’s moderator was Michael Fix, MPI Senior Vice President and Co-Director, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, and panelists included Felicia Escobar of the White House Domestic Policy Council and Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretary John Trasviña.

E Pluribus Unum Prizes 2010 Awards Ceremony

During this awards ceremony held in Washington, D.C. on May 18, 2010, the Migration Policy Institute awarded its 2010 E Pluribus Unum Prizes to four of the most exceptional immigrant integration initiatives in the country, honoring each with the award and a $50,000 check. The Prizes program  seeks to inspire and provide models to others who are working to help immigrants and their children join the mainstream of U.S. society and build stronger ties between immigrant and native-born communities. The 2010 winners are:
Illinois New Americans Integration Initiative, a joint partnership of the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Latino Community Credit Union
Tacoma Community House
Upwardly Global
Receiving an honorable mention: McDonald’s Corporation, for its “English Under the Arches” program.
The ceremony was opened by MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou, and Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez, who oversees the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, provided remarks. The award presenters: Michael Fix and Margie McHugh, Co-Directors of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, which administers the prizes program. Congressman Mike Honda also spoke, and the ceremony was closed by Brad Davidson, a trustee of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, which provides generous support for the E Pluribus Unum Prizes.

The Federal Role in Immigrant Integration: Too Little, Too Much or Just Right? Panel I

During this panel discussion held in conjunction with the 2010 E Pluribus Unum Prizes, which the Migration Policy Institute bestows annually to four exceptional immigrant integration initiatives, several of the prize winners and other experts examine the adult literacy/ESL instruction, workforce preparation, and community financial services fields. Among the questions discussed: Whether federal policy and funding appropriately support immigrant integration goals in these fields. The discussion was moderated by Margie McHugh, Co-Director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.

Securing Human Mobility in the Age of Risk: New Challenges for Travel, Migration, and Borders

A book discussion with author Susan Ginsburg, MPI nonresident fellow and former senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission; ACLU Policy Counsel and former FBI agent Michael German; Luis Rubio, President, Center of Research for Development (CIDAC) and instructor at Mexico's intelligence agency school; and Don Kerwin, MPI Vice President for Programs. The book makes the case that the nation’s post-9/11 approach to immigration and border security is off-kilter and not keeping pace with the scope and complexity of people’s movement around the world, and proposes a new paradigm that seeks to secure mobility while moving away from a system that too often conflates border and immigration enforcement with counterterrorism.
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Immigrant Legalization: Assessing Labor Market Effects

In this briefing at the Migration Policy Institute, Public Policy Institute of California researchers Magnus Lofstrom and Laura Hill discuss their research examining the potential labor market outcomes and other possible economic effects of a legalization program. The discussion was moderated by Doris Meissner, MPI Senior Fellow and Director of the US Immigration Policy Program, with comments from MPI Senior Policy Analyst Randy Capps.

MPI Leadership Visions: USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas Discusses His Vision for the Agency

In this MPI Leadership Vision speaker series event, Director Mayorkas discusses the USCIS transformation initiative, E-Verify, improving the customer experience, processing of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, and other top issues facing USCIS. The discussion was moderated by MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner, who is Director of the US Immigration Policy Program. To hear the first speaker in the Leadership Vision series – Homeland Security Assistant Secretary John Morton discussing his vision for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement – please visit: http://tinyurl.com/MPI-audio-20100125-LV-Morton

Promoting Success on Both Sides of the Border: Binational Approaches to US Immigrant Integration

A discussion and report release with Ambassador Carlos García de Alba, Executive Director, Institute for Mexicans Abroad; and MPI's Laureen Laglagaron, Kathleen Newland, Aaron Terrazas, and Michael Fix.

DHS Assistant Secretary John Morton discusses his vision for ICE

Launch of the MPI Speakers Series - Leadership Visions Moderated by Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, US Immigration Policy Program, MPI

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.

The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employer Verification Right (Webinar)

A Webinar with report co-author Marc R. Rosenblum, Senior Policy Analyst, MPI. July 30, 2009 Download Report | View PowerPoint

The Economics and Policy of Illegal Immigration in the United States

Illegal immigration's overall impact on the US economy is negligible, despite clear benefits for employers and unauthorized immigrants and slightly depressed wages for low-skilled native workers, according to this report by University of California, San Diego Professor of Economics Gordon Hanson for MPI's Labor Markets Initiative. The largest economic gains from illegal immigration flow to unauthorized workers, who see very substantial income hikes after migrating, Hanson says, suggesting that policy changes could increase the positive contribution that low-skilled workers make to the US economy by converting illegal flows to legal ones. Download Report | Press Release | Watch Event Video | Event PPT | Watch Video