What's New in Farm Labor? Immigration and the Agricultural Sector

Join the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) for an expert discussion on the findings of the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), including data that illustrate that the workforce on U.S. crop farms, which is composed largely of unauthorized Mexican immigrants, is aging and increasingly settled in the United States. Panelists provided an overview of farm labor in 2015; discussed trends demonstrated by the NAWS; and examined how fading prospects for comprehensive immigration reform, the expansion of the H-2A program, and possible eligibility for deferred action programs may impact the agricultural workforce. The discussion also included an analysis of possible future policies that could impact immigrant workers in the agricultural sector.

Regional Enforcement: A Profile of Migrants Deported from the United States and Mexico to the Northern Triangle

On this webinar, marking the release of an MPI report on these topics, authors presented an overview of regional immigration enforcement trends, including U.S. and Mexican apprehensions and deportations of both children and adults, along with a demographic, socioeconomic, and criminal profile of child and adult deportees. The researchers presented their analysis of how Mexico’s growing enforcement efforts are impacting migration from Central America to the United States, and discussed migration policies that establish workable enforcement and humanitarian protection.

The Unauthorized Population in the United States: New Data Trends

Marking the release of a new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) report examining the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States, currently estimated at 11 million, this webinar drew on U.S. Census Bureau data to detail the profiles of the overall U.S. unauthorized population, including first-ever estimates at the county level by country and region of origin for those potentially eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) programs.

Targeted Enforcement: Projecting the Effects of Executive Action on Deportations

In November 2014, President Obama announced a series of executive actions on immigration policy. While much of the immediate attention focused on the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative and creation of a new Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program, the announcement also included major changes to federal immigration enforcement practices. MPI analysts presented findings from a new report, which explores these new enforcement priorities and estimates the number of unauthorized immigrants now considered priorities—and nonpriorities—for enforcement. Current and former DHS officials joined the discussion, commenting on the historical context for these enforcement actions and plans for implementation of these new policies.

Resettling Increasingly Diverse Refugee Populations in the United States: Integration Challenges and Successes

This discussion focuses on the Migration Policy Institute's new report, The Integration Outcomes of U.S. Refugees: Success and Challenges, which uses previously unpublished State Department data among other sources to examine refugee characteristics at arrival for the ten largest national-origin groups resettled between 2002-2013, as well as their integration outcomes. The discussion examines the report's findings with respect to refugee employment and incomes, English proficiency and education levels, public benefit use, as well as differing integration outcomes between refugee groups with similar characteristics at arrival. Read the report here: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/integration-outcomes-us-refugees-successes-and-challenges

The New National Integration Plan: Making the Most of a Historic Opportunity

On April 14, in a historic first, the recently convened White House Task Force on New Americans unveiled a report to the President that aims to improve and better coordinate federal strategies that support the successful integration of immigrants into U.S. communities. At this Migration Policy Institute event, Director of the Domestic Policy Council and Co-Chair of the Task Force on New Americans, Cecilia Muñoz, discusses the plan’s promise and implementation goals. The conversation also includes remarks by Director of MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, Margie McHugh, and President Michael Fix, along with Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, Eva Millona, and Special Assistant to the President for Immigration Policy, Felicia Escobar. For more information about the White House Task Force on New Americans, visit our webpage.

Child and Family Migration to the United States: Continuing Flows and Evolving Responses

The number of Central American unaccompanied children and family units arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border has surged in recent years, reaching a peak of 137,000 in 2014. In this Migration Policy Institute webinar, experts from MPI discuss the shifting pattern of Central American migration and expectations for 2015; why inflows present a particularly acute policy challenge; and how states, localities, the federal government, and other countries in the region are responding. Speakers Marc Rosenblum, Margie McHugh, and Doris Meissner provide recommendations on policies that advance both critical protection and enforcement goals in situations of complex, mixed-status flows as well as means to address impacts in communities where child migrants have settled.

Cross-Cutting Needs and Opportunities: Language Access, Funding, Multi-Level Partnerships, and Planning for the Long Term

This Migration Policy Institute webinar, the final in a series on the development of the National Integration Plan by the newly-formed White House Task Force on New Americans, addresses cross-cutting topics (across agencies and across different levels of government) raised by a number of key stakeholders in their input to the task force. Speakers Margie McHugh of MPI, Charles Kamasaki of the National Council of La Raza, Nisha Agarwal of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs in New York City, and Cuc Vu of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs in Seattle discuss suggestions for greater leadership by the federal government in efforts to meet state and local language access needs, possible designs for a national Integration Success Fund, and building new partnerships between federal agencies and local governments to effectively address integration needs. The webinar also covers recommendations for creating a robust framework of integration goals and indicators to guide the work of each agency participating in the task force.

Adult Education, English and Skills Training: Opportunities for Action and Investment in the Most Vital Integration Services

In this Migration Policy Institute webinar, part of a series exploring issues likely to be addressed by the new National Integration Plan, speakers examine the role of adult education and English language and skills training in the immigrant integration process. Margie McHugh, Director of MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, and representatives from the National Partnership for New Americans and the National Skills Coalition discuss their recommendations to the White House Task Force on New Americans, covering topics such as: meeting the particular needs of parents of young children and immigrants in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce; ensuring equitable access to services for those with low levels of underlying education; meeting the unique needs of those who received advanced education or training overseas; and ideas for ensuring more generally that implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the increasing emphasis on postsecondary transition and career pathways results in improved, rather than reduced, access to needed education and training opportunities for immigrants and refugees.For more information, visit http://migrationpolicy.org/events/adult-education-english-and-skills-training-opportunities-action-and-investment-most-vital

The Skills of Immigrants: What PIAAC Tells Us

This Migration Policy Institute event marks the launch of the report Through an Immigrant Lens: PIAAC Assessment of the Competencies of Adults in the United States, which uses data from the 2012 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) to describe the literacy, numeracy, and computer skills of adults in the United States, including both immigrants and the native born. Report authors Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix of MPI present their findings and discuss what their analysis reveals about the literacy of the first- and second-generation immigrant population in the United States, the U.S. education and workforce training system, and the implications for the future of the U.S. labor market and its role in the global economy. Panelists Demetra Smith Nightingale of the U.S. Department of Labor and Andy Van Kleunen of the National Skills Coalition present commentaries setting the results in the context of the United States workforce and education policies. Finally, MPI’s Demetrios G. Papademetriou sets the results in the global context. 

The County-Level View of Unauthorized Immigrants and Implications for Executive Action Implementation

This Migration Policy Institute (MPI) webinar marks the release of new data profiles of unauthorized immigrants for counties in the United States with the largest populations potentially eligible for the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program or the new Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program (known as DAPA). Experts from MPI discuss some of the interesting county-level findings, and top officials from Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. and the National Council of La Raza talk about the implications of the data for implementation of the DACA and DAPA programs. The 94 detailed county-level profiles, along with topline estimates of unauthorized immigrant population size for 117 counties, are available here: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/unauthorized-immigrant-population

Lessons from DACA’s Implementation and its Impact on Education and Training

Given the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program’s unique position at the convergence of the immigration and education fields, the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy has sought to capture the ways in which local educational institutions, legal service providers, and youth advocates have responded to DACA’s first phase. In this webinar, authors of the report Lessons from the Local Level: DACA's Implementation and Impact on Education and Training Success discuss key challenges facing legal service providers and educators serving DACA youth, along with lessons for new and ongoing efforts seeking to support the implementation of the DACA and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents programs. Read the report here: http://migrationpolicy.org/research/lessons-local-level-dacas-implementation-and-impact-education-and-training-success

Digging Deeper Into Executive Action: A Further Examination of the Impacts

While public attention surrounding President Obama's November 20 announcement of executive action on immigration has focused on the estimated 5.2 million unauthorized immigrants potentially eligible for deferred action, the president also announced a number of additional reforms that touch on other facets of the U.S. immigration system. In this webinar, Migration Policy Institute (MPI) experts discuss the impact of less-noted aspects of the president’s plan, including in the areas of immigration enforcement, changes to the legal immigration system, and efforts to promote immigrant integration by creating a White House Task Force on New Americans. To watch video of the webinar and download the Powerpoint files, click here: http://migrationpolicy.org/events/digging-deeper-executive-action-further-examination-impacts

Immigration Law and Policy Conference: Session IV, Immigrant Legal Services Innovations and Challenges in Adjudication

The last several years have witnessed extraordinary developments related to the adjudication and representation of persons facing possible removal from the United States. This panel from the 11th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference—organized in October 2014 by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., the Center for Migration Studies, and Georgetown University Law Center—highlights innovative new legal service-delivery programs, including government-funded counsel in New York City, the Immigrant Justice Corps fellowship program, the Justice Americorps Program, nongovernmental organization initiatives to represent the growing numbers of unaccompanied child migrants (UACs) and others. It also discusses challenges related to the accelerated adjudication of proceedings for minors, the expansion in non-court removals, legal representation of persons apprehended near the U.S.-Mexico border, and an economic analysis of government-funded legal counsel in immigration proceedings. Panelists are Austin T. Fragomen, Partner, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen and Loewy, LLP; Meredith Linsky, Director, American Bar Association Commission on Immigration; Hon. Dana Leigh Marks, President, National Association of Immigration Judges; and John Montgomery, Senior Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting. For more on the conference, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/events/11th-annual-immigration-law-and-policy-conference.

Immigration Law and Policy Conference: Session III, The Treatment of Unaccompanied Children from Central America

Children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have been coming to the United States without a parent or guardian for many years. In 2008, Congress enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act to provide special protections for this vulnerable population. In recent years, the number of unaccompanied child migrants (UACs) from these countries has increased significantly, culminating in much larger numbers arriving at US borders in 2014. This panel, from the 11th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference organized in October 2014 by the
Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., the
Center for Migration Studies, and Georgetown University Law Center, considers several key issues that have arisen with respect to U.S. and regional responses to the cross-border movements of these children, in particular with respect to due process, enforcement actions in the United States and Mexico, and Central American government plans to address the violence affecting these children in their home communities. Speakers are H.E. Francisco Altschul Fuentes, Ambassador of El Salvador to the United States; Barbara Leen, Counsel to the Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Department of Justice; and Maria Woltjen, Lecturer in Law and Director of The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, University of Chicago. The conversation was moderated by Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Director,
Center for Applied Legal Studies; Director, Human Rights Institute,
Professor from Practice, Georgetown University Law Center. For more on the conference, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/events/11th-annual-immigration-law-and-policy-conference.

Immigration Law and Policy Conference: Session II, Executive Action: Policy and Political Implications for the Future

This panel from the 11th annual Immigration
Law and Policy Conference—organized in October 2014 by the Migration
Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., the Center
for Migration Studies, and Georgetown University Law Center—examines the use of executive action in implementing immigration policy, the numbers of those who may potentially be affected by such action, underlying legal issues, and any challenges in implementation. The panelists—Ana Navarro, a Republican political contributor to CNN, CNN en Español, and ABC News; Norman J. Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; Simon Rosenberg, President and Founder, New Democrat Network (NDN); and Marc R. Rosenblum, Deputy Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, Migration Policy Institute—discussed the possible political ramifications for future immigration reform policy during a conversation moderated by MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner. For more on the conference, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/events/11th-annual-immigration-law-and-policy-conference.

Immigration Law and Policy Conference: Session I, Immigration Reform on a State and Local Level

As federal immigration legislation continues to languish, state and municipal governments across the country are forging ahead and taking decisive action to integrate immigrants into their communities. This panel from the 11th annual Immigration
Law and Policy Conference—organized in October 2014 by the Migration
Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., the Center
for Migration Studies, and Georgetown University Law Center—examines different approaches to advancing immigrant laws and policies at the state and local levels. Panelists discuss recent measures adopted by city and state governments to expand immigrants’ access to education and health care, limit local involvement in immigration enforcement, and enhance immigrants’ ability to participate in civic life and revitalize local economies. The panelists are: Nisha Agarwal, Commissioner, New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs; the Hon. Ricardo Lara, Senator, 33rd District, California State Senate; and Steve Tobocman, Director, Global Detroit. The conversation is moderated by Jeanne M. Atkinson, Executive Director, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. For more on the conference, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/events/11th-annual-immigration-law-and-policy-conference.

Immigration Law and Policy Conference: Keynote by Leon Rodriguez

The 11th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference—organized in October 2014 by the Migration
Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., the Center
for Migration Studies, and Georgetown University Law Center—begins with keynote remarks by León Rodríguez, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. During his first major public address since being sworn in, Director Rodríguez discussed his agency's performance, including its handling of the hundreds of thousands of applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. For more on the 11th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/events/11th-annual-immigration-law-and-policy-conference.

The U.S. Deportation System: Trends from a Decade of Data

This panel discussion marks the release of the new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) report, Deportation and Discretion: Reviewing the Record and Options for Change. The report and discussion provide a detailed description of formal removals from the United States, including the previous immigration and criminal records of deportees, as well as their country of origin, gender, length of residence in the United States, and other demographic characteristics. Marc Rosenblum, Deputy Director of MPI's U.S. Immigration Policy Program and lead author of the report, answers key questions about immigration enforcement: who is being removed, where are noncitizens being apprehended, how are they being removed, and how are DHS’s current enforcement priorities reflected in enforcement outcomes. Other issues covered in the discussion include MPI’s insights more broadly from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removals dataset, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by The New York Times, as well as the work done by the Government Accountability Office in this area. This event offers a unique opportunity to review the past decade-plus of deportations and determine what lessons can be learned for future policy and possible administrative action.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Discusses His Vision for the Agency

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske, who assumed his duties in 2014, lays out his vision and discusses his priorities for the agency as part of the Migration Policy Institute's (MPI) Leadership Visions series. The discussion is moderated by Doris Meissner, Director of MPI's U.S. Immigration Policy Program.