Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

Language Access and Schools: Federal Requirements and School Experiences

This webinar from the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy (NCIIP) and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Bridging Refugee Youth & Children’s Services (BRYCS) program explores federal requirements for providing interpretation and translation in schools and how select school districts in Minnesota and Colorado have managed these requirements. Under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, schools are required to provide information to parents in a “language they can understand.” In addition to this requirement, Executive Order 13166 makes clear the responsibility of all federally funded programs to uphold Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by ensuring meaningful access to programs and services for individuals regardless of their English proficiency. School districts across the country have implemented these federal requirements in a variety of ways.
This is the latest in NCIIP’s language access webinar series exploring the policy and program implementation imperatives for government and community agencies serving Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations. To access audio of previous webinars, click here. To access a toolkit for teachers and school personnel on translation and interpretation requirements developed by BRYCS, please click here.
Speakers are:
Lyn Morland, Director, Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Laura Gardner, Education Technical Assistance Specialist, Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Salvador Carrera, Director, Multicultural Outreach Office, Denver Public Schools
Alejandra Bosch, Translation Services Coordinator, Office of Communications, Marketing and Development, Saint Paul Public Schools
The call is moderated by Chhandasi Pandya, Policy Analyst/Program Coordinator, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, Migration Policy Institute.
View the PowerPoint presentation here.
Also of interest: LEP Workers & Access to Workforce Services: Barriers & Prospects under WIA Reauthorization, Taking Limited English Proficient Adults into Account in the Federal Adult Education Funding Formula, and Immigrants and Welfare: The Impact of Welfare Reform on America’s Newcomers

LEP Workers & Access to Workforce Services: Barriers & Prospects under WIA Reauthorization

Current negotiations over reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) come at a critical moment for immigrant and Limited English Proficient (LEP) workers. They and their current and future employers have a large stake in these negotiations, given the wide range of labor supply and skill mismatches that employers rely on immigrants to meet across the United States. Further, the predominance of immigrants and their children among new, young, and future US workers and the weak response thus far of the WIA-funded training system to the needs of these increasingly diverse and multilingual workers necessitates a concerted re-examination of the WIA system. The extent to which changes to the WIA system take account of these important demographic and economic trends and address the needs of immigrant-origin and LEP workers in particular will strongly affect the law's ability to support our country's future economic success.
There is broad consensus that LEP workers of varying educational backgrounds and levels of English proficiency and vocational skills are underserved by WIA's training services as a result of the law's structure. While community-based organizations have filled some gaps in services for LEP individuals and immigrant workers, the current reauthorization debate presents an opportunity for analysts, workforce services professionals, and community stakeholders to consider how to redesign the WIA system and its investments in these important segments of the US workforce. On this webinar, experts discuss barriers immigrant and LEP individuals face in accessing the WIA system, how a revitalized WIA could address these barriers, and the extent to which the current Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee's WIA reauthorization proposal addresses these barriers.
View the PowerPoint presentation here.
This webinar is part of Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy (NCIIP) Language Access Webinar Series.
Speakers are:
Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, Director of Outreach and Program Evaluation, Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians
Emma Oppenheim, Manager, Workforce Development Policy Initiatives, National Council of La Raza
Gabriela Lemus, Senior Advisor and Director, Office of Public Engagement, US Department of Labor
Also of interest: Taking Limited English Proficient Adults into Account in the Federal Adult Education Funding Formula, and Immigrants and Welfare: The Impact of Welfare Reform on America’s Newcomers

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

Colombian Refugees in Panama and Ecuador

At this Migration Policy Institute (MPI) event, representatives from refugee groups who made a November 2010 trip to Panama and Ecuador present their findings and discuss their report, Living on the Edge: Colombian Refugees in Panama and Ecuador. The speakers are: Shaina Aber, Associate Advocacy Director for Jesuit Refugee Service/USA; and Melanie Nezer, Senior Director for US Policy and Advocacy at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Commenting is Andrea Lari, Regional Director at Refugees International. The event is moderated by Kathleen Newland, Director of MPI’s Migrants, Migration, and Development, and Refugee Policy Programs.
Watch the event here.

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.

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.