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La reforma de la ley de movilidad humana de Ecuador impone controles de inmigración más estrictos, vinculando la migración de venezolanos con el aumento vertiginoso de los índices de criminalidad. Sin embargo, esta vinculación no está respaldada por los hechos, y Ecuador debería pasar ahora a una segunda fase en la elaboración de sus políticas: una fase centrada en la integración y el desarrollo de los inmigrantes.
Ecuador's reform of its law on human mobility imposes stricter immigration controls and speeds deportations, linking migration of Venezuelans to spiraling crime rates. Yet this linkage is not supported by the facts, and Ecuador should now move to a phase two in its policymaking: one focused on immigrant integration and development, this short read argues.
E-Verify has been heralded as a key way to control unauthorized immigration to the United States, but federal efforts to expand the system stalled. There has been movement at the state level over the past decade, though, and there are signs it may rise in prominence again. This article details the history and challenges of E-Verify, and its limited uptake.
WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. immigration courts are facing an historic crisis, struggling to handle a backlog of nearly 3.8 million deportation cases through a system capped at a maximum 800 immigration judges—resulting in average wait times of about four years for an initial asylum hearing.
The United States is by far the top destination for international migrants from the Caribbean. Roughly one in ten U.S. immigrants was born in the Caribbean, coming chiefly from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, or Haiti. Compared to other foreign-born groups, these individuals are more likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens and to have arrived since 2010, as this article details.
The U.S. immigration court system faces an unprecedented crisis, with nearly 3.8 million pending cases as of mid-2025. This years-long backlog has undermined both timely immigration enforcement and grants of asylum to those in need of protection. This policy brief offers concrete actions that could make proceedings more efficient and more fair.
Children are especially vulnerable to displacement linked to climate change. This episode of the Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast features a discussion with UNICEF’s Laura Healy about this reality and the opportunities to better protect children in a warming world.
Some countries with large diasporas have sought to maximize incoming remittances and channel them into particular sectors. Diaspora engagement policies are not always successful, but research shows that they are generally accompanied by increased remittance sending. This article explains the connection and explores some of the factors affecting remittance levels.
The transformation in U.S. immigration enforcement taking place at the U.S.-Mexico border and in communities across the United States during the second Trump term is tangibly captured in government data for fiscal year (FY) 2025. This short read sifts through the available data to look at encounters, arrests, detentions, and deportations during the fiscal year.
BRUSSELS — As return and reintegration rise higher on the agendas of countries of origin, governments are refining how they manage these processes while balancing domestic priorities, development goals and cooperation with destination countries. A new Migration Policy Institute Europe policy brief released today analyses how these approaches are evolving amid origin-country governments’ growing concern over precarious conditions for returnees and pressures over readmission and reintegration conditions.
In this episode of the Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast, international law scholar Mark Nevitt discusses the prospect that nationals of some small Pacific Island nations become stateless if climate change makes their countries uninhabitable.
Many migrant-origin countries are developing policies and institutional structures to support their returning nationals, driven by safety concerns, emergencies, and in some cases pressure from destination countries. This policy brief examines these developments and identifies opportunities to better align local services, national policies, and donor support to strengthen international cooperation on migrant returns and reintegration.
WASHINGTON, DC — Maine's immigrant population, though small, contributes to key industries in the state—from health care and manufacturing to aquaculture—and is poised to play an increasingly important role as the working-age population is projected to shrink, a comprehensive new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) report reveals.
The number of people in U.S. immigrant detention has grown sharply under President Donald Trump and will likely continue to rise in coming months. The rapid ramp-up has relied on an array of nontraditional facilities as well as private prisons, and has been accompanied by allegations of harsh treatment and rising deaths. This article traces the growth and evolution of the world's largest immigration detention system.
Maine’s immigrant population, though relatively small, is a notably diverse mix of long-settled residents and newcomers from many parts of the world. At a time when the U.S.-born workforce in Maine is shrinking and aging, immigrants contribute essential labor and skills to the state economy. This report sketches a profile of immigrants in Maine, including their origins, educational attainment, workforce characteristics, and the challenges some face.
Migration is one of the globe's defining challenges, yet researchers from academia and beyond often fail to impact policy. What is holding them back? This article examines findings from a survey of more than 1,800 academic and other researchers across 101 countries to reveal the key structural barriers they face.
Accompanying Data Profiles Offer Socio-Demographic Portrait of This Population
at U.S., State & Top County Levels
WASHINGTON, DC — Even as the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States has risen significantly after a decade of stagnation, it is becoming significantly more diversified in terms of origins, socio-economic and labor market characteristics, family composition and places of settlement, a new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) fact sheet shows.
The 13.7 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States as of mid-2023 reflect increasingly diverse origins, socioeconomic and labor market characteristics, family composition, and places of settlement. This fact sheet explores those trends, drawing on MPI's detailed data profiles of the unauthorized immigrant population at U.S., state, and top county levels.