Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

Rethinking Integration for the Age of Superdiversity: How to Adapt Public Services? Session 1: Rethinking Public Services for a Diverse and Mobile Age

This Migration Policy Institute Europe public discussion explores how a coordinated approach to immigrant integration may create more effective and inclusive approaches to diversity across the policy-making spectrum. It also covers the findings of the UPSTREAM project, a multicountry study funded by the European Integration Fund that looks at the practice of mainstreaming in early childhood education, multilingual classrooms, antiracism, and equality strategies, and neighborhood and housing policy. Session 1, "Rethinking Public Services for a Diverse and Mobile Age," includes speakers Peter Scholten, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Politics at Erasmus University, and Elizabeth Collett, Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe.

Ready to Meet the Needs of All Children? A Closer Look at Diversity in the Early Childhood Workforce

In this webinar, Migration Policy Institute analysts discuss their report, Immigrant and Refugee Workers in the Early Childhood Field: Taking a Closer Look, which shows that just as the number and share of children of immigrants have grown substantially, the foreign born also now represent nearly one-fifth of the overall early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce. However, these immigrant workers—and the linguistic and cultural diversity that they bring to the field—are over-represented in lower-skilled and lower-paid positions. The discussion covers diversity within the existing ECEC workforce, along with recommendations for addressing barriers to entry and advancement that many immigrant workers appear to face. Read the report here: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/immigrant-and-refugee-workers-early-childhood-field-taking-closer-look

No End in Sight: The Worsening Syrian Refugee Crisis

To date, almost 4 million refugees have fled the Syrian civil war, the vast majority seeking shelter in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon, but with growing numbers also moving to Egypt and Northern Iraq. At this Migration Policy Institute briefing, Erol Kekic from Refugee Council USA and Anastasia Brown from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who recently visited the region, report on their findings on the space for humanitarian protection. Also joining the panel is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Simon Henshaw, whose portfolio in the Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration includes Syrian refugees. He discusses recent developments in the region and in the U.S. humanitarian response. The discussion is moderated by Kathleen Newland, director of MPI's Refugee Protection and Humanitarian Response Program. 

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.

The Asia-Pacific and Women’s Labour Migration

At this briefing, hosted by the International Organization for Migration and the Migration Policy Institute, speakers discuss the critical issues surrounding women's labour migration in the Asia-Pacific region and the related opportunities and challenges. The event marks the launch of the IOM-MPI Issue in Brief, Women’s Labour Migration from Asia and the Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges, the twelfth in a joint-publication series offering succinct insights on migration issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region today.Note: Due to technical errors, the audio does not include opening remarks and starts with the author's presentation. 

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.

Integration Challenges and Opportunities in the Economic Development and Refugee Resettlement Arenas

This Migration Policy Institute webinar addresses two distinct, significant areas—economic development and refugee resettlement—that were a focus of robust discussion in recommendations submitted by a number of leading organizations and networks to the White House Task Force on New Americans. During the webinar, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Annie Wilson shares thoughts on how to better support the integration of refugees and the refugee resettlement process, Global Detroit Director Steve Tobocman talks about the WE Global Network and recommendations for the task force in the areas of international student retention, immigrant entrepreneurship, and rural economic development, and MPI’s Margie McHugh discusses recommendations on education and training, language access, and late-arriving immigrant and refugee students. 

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

A ‘Freer’ Flow of Skilled Labour within ASEAN: Aspirations, Opportunities, and Challenges in 2015 and Beyond

In 2007, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on an ambitious goal to fast-track the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015, which would transform the ASEAN region into a single market and production base. The transformation would be based on five core components, including a free flow of skilled labor. This briefing, held in Bangkok, Thailand and hosted by the International Organization for Migration and the Migration Policy Institute, explores these issues and launches the Issue in Brief, A ‘Freer’ Flow of Skilled Labour within ASEAN: Aspirations, Opportunities and Challenges in 2015 and Beyond, the eleventh in a joint publication series offering succinct insights on migration issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region today. To read the series, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/regions/asia-and-pacific.

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

Where Next? The Future of Integration Policy in Europe

This is the third and final panel from the day-long conference, "Better Work for Immigrants: Tackling Joblessness and Stunted Progression in the European Union," held in Brussels and organized by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Europe in collaboration with the International Labour Office (ILO) and the European Commission. The event concludes an MPI-ILO research project, funded by the European Commission, that examines employment prospects of foreign-born workers and the effectiveness of integration and workforce development policies in helping foreign-born workers overcome barriers and move up into middle-skilled positions in six case study countries: the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Read reports from the series here.

Can Training Get Migrants into Middle-Skilled Jobs? Working More Effectively with Social Partners and Civil Society

This is the second panel from the day-long conference, "Better Work for Immigrants: Tackling Joblessness and Stunted Progression in the European Union," held in Brussels and organized by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Europe in collaboration with the International Labour Office (ILO) and the European Commission. The event concludes an MPI-ILO research project, funded by the European Commission, that examines employment prospects of foreign-born workers and the effectiveness of integration and workforce development policies in helping foreign-born workers overcome barriers and move up into middle-skilled positions in six case study countries: the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Read reports from the series here.

Bleak Picture or Steady Progress? Labour Market Outcomes of New Arrivals in Europe

This panel discussion opens the day-long conference, "Better Work for Immigrants: Tackling Joblessness and Stunted Progression in the European Union," held in Brussels and organized by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Europe in collaboration with the International Labour Office (ILO) and the European Commission. The event concludes an MPI-ILO research project, funded by the European Commission, that examines employment prospects of foreign-born workers and the effectiveness of integration and workforce development policies in helping foreign-born workers overcome barriers and move up into middle-skilled positions in six case study countries: the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Read reports from the series here.

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.