Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

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.

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.

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.

Diasporas: New Partners in Global Development Policy

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This discussion, surrounding the release of the Migration Policy Institute’s latest book – Diasporas: New Partners in Global Development Policy – focused on the role diasporas play in development efforts in their countries of origin. The discussion was moderated by the book’s editor, Kathleen Newland, who directs MPI’s program on Migrants, Migration, and Development; and speakers included Karen D. Turner, Director of the Office of Development Partners at the US Agency for International Development; and Thomás Debass, Regional Director, Global Partnership Initiative, Office of the US Secretary of State. The book was the culmination of a partnership with USAID.

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.

Diaspora Engagement

Kathleen Newland, director of the Migrants, Migration, and Development Program at the Migration Policy Institute and Yvon Resplandy, senior advisor for Diaspora and Remittances at the U.S. Agency for International Development discuss diaspora engagement and the joint MPI-USAID research project examining diasporas’ human and financial transfers in areas ranging from philanthropy to their access to capital markets in emerging countries. For the diaspora engagement studies, visit http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/migration_development.php.

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.

Migration's Middlemen: Regulating Recruitment Agencies in the Philippines-UAE Corridor

Discussion on MPI report,  Migration's Middlemen: Regulating Recruitment Agencies in the Philippines-United Arab Emirates Corridor, which examines recruiters' practices as well as their regulation by the Philippine and UAE governments, finding room for significant improvement. Speakers at the briefing: report author Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, MPI Policy Analyst; Luzviminda Padilla, Labor Attaché, Philippines Embassy in Washington; Jeni Klugman, Director, Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Program; and Kathleen Newland, MPI Director of the Migrants, Migration, and Development Program.

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.