Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 26, the UN Special Representative for International Migration will launch the final phase of preparations for the historic adoption of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration in Marrakesh, Morocco in December 2018. As the global compact moves from the realm of ideas and into reality, the focus of states and UN bodies is shifting from design to implementation. This podcast considers two central objectives of the compact: enhancing the availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration, and investing in skills development. Experts from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and the Germany Development Cooperation Agency (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, or GIZ) discuss concrete ideas for implementing these objectives. Panelists examine how migration pathways can be expanded, including through bilateral and regional agreements, to meet the needs of labor markets in destination countries while safeguarding migrants against abuse. The podcast also draws on lessons from previous migration partnerships to assess the potential of “skills partnerships,” a concept proposed by the compact that aim to facilitate the training and development of skilled workers who can fill labor market gaps in both countries of origin and destination. The discussion draws on research conducted for the project, Towards a Global Compact for Migration: Rethinking the Links between Migration and Development, by MPI and GIZ, and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Young children in refugee families often endure significant direct or indirect trauma from their experiences during conflict, flight, or resettlement. Extensive research demonstrates that trauma can seriously impact the brain, cognitive, and socioemotional development of young children, potentially interfering with their learning capacity and ability to form healthy attachments. The issue of trauma has therefore gained increasing visibility across the early childhood field, yet relatively little research has explored the specific traumatic experiences and needs of young refugee children or strategies to address them.   High-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs can have enormous benefits, particularly for the children of immigrants and refugees. ECEC programs also present an important opportunity to provide trauma-informed services in a nonclinical setting, significantly expanding access to important socioemotional and mental health supports for this vulnerable population. However, Migration Policy Institute research shows that many U.S. ECEC programs and systems lack the capacity and knowledge to take a trauma-informed approach in their services. Experts, on this webinar, discuss the effects of trauma on the development of young refugee children. They also highlight ways ECEC programs can address this trauma, including practical strategies that child-care providers in Canada are using to support the resiliency of refugee children and families. This webinar is the first of two discussions that MPI is hosting on the issue of trauma-informed care for young children of refugees in early childhood programs. The second webinar is on September 13.

A Spanish language webinar examining the operation of today’s interior enforcement system and how state and local governments, civil society, and consulates are responding.       La administración Trump ha estado reorientando el sistema de control migratorio en el interior de Estados Unidos mediante el cual autoridades detienen y deportan a inmigrantes indocumentados. Al mismo tiempo—junto a esfuerzos coordinados por la sociedad civil y las redes consulares mexicanas y centroamericanas—existe una resistencia creciente por parte de estados y localidades que se niegan a colaborar con las autoridades federales de inmigración. La reciente crisis de separación familiar ha contribuido una nueva dinámica a los esfuerzos de control migratorio de la administración y la manera en que comunidades locales están respondiendo.   El seminario web en español organizado por el Instituto de Políticas Migratorias (MPI, por sus siglas en inglés) examina el funcionamiento actual del sistema de control migratorio en el interior del país, las consecuencias para la relación entre los tres niveles de gobierno y las comunidades inmigrantes, y la manera en que procede el control migratorio en un entorno cada vez más polémico.   Expertos de MPI presentan los resultados de una investigación clave que evalúa los cambios en las políticas de control migratorio y sus alcances. Investigadores de MPI visitaron 15 localidades alrededor de los Estados Unidos, incluyendo localidades que cooperan con autoridades federales de inmigración, como Houston, y localidades que limitan su cooperación, como Los Ángeles. La investigación refleja un amplio espectro de perspectivas incluyendo agentes del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés), altos funcionarios de autoridades policiacas, representantes electos, abogados de inmigración, proveedores de servicios comunitarios, defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes, funcionarios consulares y ex jueces de inmigración. El informe también proporciona un análisis de datos nacionales de ICE obtenidos a través de solicitudes de acceso a la información

Ample data on English Learner (EL) student outcomes provide evidence of the steep challenge these students face in developing grade-level academic language and content knowledge. These data point to a critical question: are local schools and school districts using appropriate instructional program models to meet EL needs? While the effectiveness of specific instructional models for these students—such as dual language, transitional bilingual, and English-only approaches—have attracted the attention of researchers and policymakers, instructional programming actually provided by schools or school districts is often a mix of different models or approaches. For this reason, it is crucial that a range of stakeholders—including state and local education agency leaders, legislators, school board members, and community advocates—have a clear picture of what programs are offered to EL students and factors that might indicate whether they are appropriate and effective choices. To improve understanding about the critical nature of the choices schools make with regard to EL instruction programs, MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy released an issue brief, the second in an EL Insights series, that describes the goals and main features of common instructional models and key factors that often shape their selection and implementation by schools. In this webinar, the brief’s author, Julie Sugarman, discusses the key features of EL instructional models, how they are sometimes woven together to address language- and content-learning needs of students, and factors that can account for varied approaches within and across schools. Other experts discuss state- and district-level approaches to supporting schools in implementing effective EL program models. They highlight the evolution of bilingual and dual language programming in Madison, Wisconsin, and New York State’s implementation of English as a New Language units of study as the foundation for more effective EL programming. Both speakers illustrate how, in order to improve the academic trajectories of EL students, ongoing reflection guided policy revisions and changes to the design and support of EL programs.

The audio from this webinar highlights findings from a Migration Policy Institute report examining the potential impacts of expected changes to the public charge rule by the Trump administration. Leaked draft versions indicate that the rule could allow the administration to make changes to the legal immigration system, in part by making it more difficult for legally present noncitizens to acquire a green card or visa if they or their family members have used public benefits. The rule likely would discourage millions from accessing health, nutrition, and social services for which they or their U.S.-citizen dependents are eligible.   You can find more information about the webinar here: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/events/chilling-effects-expected-public-charge-rule-and-its-impact-immigrant-families   You may find the report mentioned here: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/chilling-effects-expected-public-charge-rule-impact-legal-immigrant-families 

There may be no story today with a wider gap between fact and fiction than the relationship between the United States and Mexico. Deeply intertwined social, economic, cultural, and family relationships make the U.S.-Mexico border more seam than barrier, weaving together two economies, societies, and cultures. Mexico has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past two decades that has made it a more educated, prosperous, and innovative nation than most Americans realize. And this emerging Mexico increasingly influences our daily lives in the United States in surprising ways—the jobs we do, the goods we consume, and even the new technology and entertainment we enjoy.  At this discussion, marking the release of MPI President Andrew Selee's latest book, speakers explore the emerging trends in migration, economic interdependence, technology innovation, and cultural exchange that are transforming the relationship between the United States and Mexico, and the policy implications of these changes for our future. INTRODUCTION: Andrew Selee, President, MPI Duncan Wood, Director, Mexico Institute, Wilson Center   OPENING REMARKS Jose Antonio Zabalgoitia, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Mexico to the United StatesSPEAKERS Alan Bersin, former Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2012-17), and former Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (2010-11) Carla Hills, Chair and CEO, Hills & Company, and former U.S. Trade Representative (1989-93) Antonio Ortiz-Mena, Senior Vice President, Albright Stonebridge Group, and Adjunct Professor, Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) and Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown UniversityCLOSING REMARKSRoberta Jacobson, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (2016-18)   ADJOURNMENTDoris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, MPI  

Within days of the inauguration, the Trump administration announced sweeping changes that are reshaping the immigration enforcement system in the U.S. interior by which removable noncitizens are arrested, detained, and deported.  In ways big and small, the administration is reorienting the enforcement system. At the same time, there is growing pushback, particularly from states and localities unwilling to cooperate with federal enforcement. How do arrests and deportations under the Trump administration compare to past administrations? How are state and local governments, civil society, and consulates responding? What are the impacts of new policies on federal enforcement, federal-state-local enforcement relationships, and immigrant communities?  To assess the changes and their impacts, Migration Policy Institute researchers visited 15 jurisdictions across the United States, both those cooperating, such as Houston, and those limiting cooperation, such Los Angeles. Their findings are contained in a major MPI report. It reflects interviews across a broad spectrum including ICE field leadership, senior local law enforcement and elected officials, immigration attorneys, community service providers, immigrant-rights advocates, consular officials, and former immigration judges. The report also provides analysis of national ICE data obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests.    This discussion examinining the operation of today’s interior enforcement system features remarks by: Randy Capps, Director of Research, U.S. Programs, MPI Muzaffar Chishti, Director, MPI's office at NYU School of Law J. Thomas Manger, Chief of Police, Montgomery County, Maryland, and President, Major Cities Chiefs Association Gary Mead, former Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement  Rafael Laveaga, Head of Consulate of Mexico in Washington, DC (responsible for DC, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia)  Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, MPI      

Resettling large numbers of refugees is no easy task. Governments that are trying to boost their help to refugees will often call upon colleagues from countries with more experience—whether through email exchanges or conversations at the side of meetings, or formal conferences and study visits. This system of peer support is emerging as a vital tool for successful resettlement programs.  Yet, peer-support projects are often put in place without a thorough assessment of how they will strategically meet the desired goals. In addition, inexperienced governments sometimes have no proper criteria to choose who takes part in the initiatives, and they fail to design appropriate follow-up activities that would maximize impact. While more experienced resettlement states are willing to share their expertise, they are faced with the challenge of reaching their own targets amid tightening budgets.  This webinar examines the major challenges facing refugee resettlement peer-support projects in Europe. It explores how state and nonstate actors have sought to overcome these obstacles to ensure that peer support delivers the right tools and expertise, to the right actors, at the right time.  This MPI Europe webinar focuses on the findings from its report, Scaling up Refugee Resettlement in Europe: The Role of Institutional Peer Support, produced in the framework of the European Union Action on Facilitating Resettlement and Refugee Admission through New Knowledge (EU-FRANK) project. The report examines key lessons for Member States before they design or participate in peer-support activities.  Webinar speakers: Hanne Beirens, Associate Director, MPI Europe Andre Baas, Resettlement Expert, European Asylum Support Office Vinciane Masurelle, Head, International Unit, Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, Belgium Kate O’Malley, Senior Consultant, Resettlement Partnerships, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); and Former Deputy Director for Resettlement, Division of International Protection, UNHCR 

As asylum seekers and refugees have arrived in significant numbers in Europe and North America in recent years, many countries have struggled to address the newcomers’ basic reception needs and provide effective integration services. Young children comprise a substantial share of these arrivals, and many have experienced significant trauma and stress that pose serious risks to their cognitive, psychosocial, and physical development. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs present an important opportunity to mitigate many risks these children may face, improving their education trajectories and supporting longer-term success. They can also play a critical role in the integration of refugee parents and families more broadly. In many countries, however, services for young refugee children are highly limited and lack the capacity to meet their learning and development needs. This webinar marks the release of an Migration Policy Institute report examining the challenges and successes major host countries in Europe and North America are experiencing in providing high-quality ECEC services. The report draws on fieldwork conducted in nine countries: Belgium, Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States. It is an initiative of the Transatlantic Forum on Inclusive Early Years, a consortium of European and U.S. foundations convened by the Brussels-based King Baudouin Foundation. During the webinar, authors, Maki Park and Margie McHugh discuss the report’s findings, highlighting promising policies and practices identified in field research, as well as key areas in which ECEC services for this population need to be strengthened. They are joined by Anna Österlund, from the Swedish National Agency for Education, who highlights innovative national and local policies in Sweden that support young refugee children in their early learning experiences.

All immigrant-receiving countries grapple with the rights and requirements surrounding family reunification and how to balance them with other immigration priorities.  Deciding which family members should be eligible to join their relatives in the United States, and under what conditions, has become a hot button political issue. The Trump administration has proposed restricting family-based immigration severely, prompting a wave of responses arguing that family-based immigration should remain at the heart of the U.S. immigration system. On this webinar, MPI analysts Julia Gelatt, Kate Hooper, and Demetrios G. Papademetriou, compare U.S. policy on family migration to that of other significant immigrant-receiving countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Specifically, do these countries define "family" for the purpose of immigrant admissions and how does the proportion of family admissions compare to the other admission streams, especially to the admissions of the economic/labor market stream? This conversation, moderated by MPI Senior Fellow and Director of MPI's U.S. Immigration Policy Program Doris Meissner, highlights findings from MPI's issue brief examining family migration trends in nine countries and marks the launch of a data tool that models potential U.S. legal immigration cuts, by category and top countries. 

Across many early childhood education and care (ECEC) and K-12 school systems in the United States, the diversity of languages spoken, countries of origin, and other characteristics of the young child population is rapidly rising. An increasing number of communities in the United States are experiencing conditions of “superdiversity,” creating learning environments that require different instructional strategies and approaches than those used in more homogeneous or bilingual settings to support Dual Language Learners’ access to high-quality early childhood services that can support their healthy development and future academic success. This webinar marks the release of two research reports that illustrate the challenges and opportunities related to teaching and learning in a superdiverse environment, pointing to promising approaches to work effectively in multilingual, multicultural classrooms. The reports focus on patterns of home language use across different ECEC program types, and the potential of the Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) model to improve instruction and outcomes for Dual Language Learners in superdiverse settings. During the webinar, authors present findings and highlights from their work, and key implications for policy and practice will be discussed. The reports discussed are: The Language of the Classroom: Dual Language Learners in Head Start, Public Pre-K, and Private Preschool Programs Supporting Dual Language Learner Success in Superdiverse PreK-3 Classrooms: The Sobrato Early Academic Language Model  

With immigration increasingly visible in the news and the political space in the United States and internationally, getting access to accurate, high-quality data is essential for publics and policymakers to understand immigration’s demographic effects and impacts on the economy, education and labor systems, and the communities in which immigrants and their families live and work. This event marks the release of an updated version of the popular Immigration Data Matters guide, which directs users to more than 220 international and U.S. data sources, and explains how to navigate sometimes complex datasets issued by government statistical agencies, international organizations, and reputable research organizations. This handy online guide includes data sources covering everything from the size of foreign-born population stocks and flows to citizenship applications, children in immigrant families, refugee admissions, migrant deaths, international student enrollment, global remittance flows, enforcement activities, and much more.  At a time of proliferating data sources on immigration and immigrants, the presenters (Jeanne Batalova, MPI Senior Policy Analyst and Data Hub Manager, MPI; Mark Mather, Population Reference Bureau Associate Vice President for U.S. Programs; Elizabeth M. Grieco, Pew Research Center Senior Writer/Editor and former U.S. Census Bureau Foreign-Born Population Branch Chief; and Marc Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of the Office of Immigration Statistics at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) discuss where some of the most user-friendly data can be accessed, including MPI’s own Migration Data Hub. They share their insights on how to avoid common pitfalls in using existing immigration data and highlight relevant data sources available from international organizations and national governments, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  

Immigrants, who account for 17 percent of the U.S. labor force, are twice as likely as native-born workers to work in industries where core labor and safety standard violations are widespread. Many immigrants have been driven into low-wage, under-regulated work by a confluence of immigration policies and economic transformations in which companies now routinely contract out for their labor needs, such as occurs in the cleaning, warehousing, food preparation, construction, and transportation sectors. In these sectors, it is commonplace for employers to misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid paying employer-related taxes and workers compensation, and to evade responsibility for compliance with labor standards. Pushing back against the deterioration of labor standards in these sectors requires robust and strategic enforcement, but both government and private-sector driven enforcement are stymied by limited resources and disincentives for workers to file complaints. State and local governments, with their broad enforcement powers, access to tax and insurance data, and their role in regulating unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation, are uniquely positioned to respond. As a Migration Policy Institute report outlines, state innovations in enforcement can benefit both native-born and immigrant workers alike, increase state tax revenue, and level competition in the marketplace for law-abiding employers. However, since states also contend with limited resources, strategic enforcement of workplace statutes that change employer behavior is key.  At this report release discussion, the authors, Muzaffar Chishti, Director, MPI's office at New York University (NYU) School of Law, and Andrew Elmore, NYU School of Law Acting Assistant Professor and former New York Office of Attorney General Labor Bureau Section Chief, discuss the dynamics in low-wage workplaces and immigration law that have contributed to systematic violations of labor standards. They also highlight the new and effective enforcement strategies that state and local governments across the United States are utilizing. And California Labor Commissioner Julie Su and Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Administrator Abbie Hudgens discuss how they have leveraged existing resources to more effectively enforce labor laws.   

As the number and share of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) continues to grow across the United States, diversity within this population is also increasing. Although Spanish remains the most commonly spoken language among DLL families in most states, other minority languages have substantial representation in many school districts, cities, and counties. DLLs also span a wide range of races and ethnicities, countries of origin, levels of education, and migration histories. This “superdiversity” has important implications for early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs, schools, and other systems that face the challenge of building the capacity to effectively serve children with unique learning strengths and needs. And while a strong research base has proven the benefits of bilingual education models in supporting DLLs’ academic development, much less is known about effective strategies to serve these children in classrooms where multiple languages and cultures are represented, and no single non-English language is dominant. This webinar marks the release of a Migration Policy Institute report that provides an analysis of the diversity within the DLL population nationwide and at the state and local levels. The report also offers a closer look at three rapidly growing subgroups within the DLL population: Black and Asian American and Pacific Islander DLLs and young children of refugees. This is the first in a series of three reports that will explore the implications of superdiverse contexts for ECEC programs and systems. On the webinar, authors of the report, Maki Park and Jie Zong, provide an overview of its findings and policy implications. This was followed by reflections from KaYing Yang, Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Coalition of Asian American Leaders in Minnesota, who discussed on-the-ground challenges and responses related to early learning service provision in superdiverse settings. 

The arrival of hundreds of thousands of children during the migration crisis exacerbated existing structural limitations in how school systems support children with migrant backgrounds, including insufficient teacher capacity and training, and underdeveloped systems for identifying and diagnosing needs. Faced with rising levels of language learners in their classrooms, some schools have turned to innovations in technology and pedagogy—such as personalized learning and differentiated instruction, translation software, ‘flipped’ classrooms, and massive open online courses (MOOCs)—to support teachers and help diverse learners keep up. Do these innovations represent new solutions, partial supports, or a distraction from the broader challenges of supporting diverse learners? How can educators and integration policymakers use these tools to improve the outcomes for the most disadvantaged students, without widening existing inequalities? And what are the broader structural reforms needed to rethink the way that schools are designed, operated, and staffed to update education systems for diverse populations? This Migration Policy Institute Europe webinar considers what the future of education might hold for diverse learners. It marks the release of a report, Mainstreaming 2.0: How Europe’s Education Systems Can Boost Migrant Inclusion, produced in the framework of its Integration Futures Working Group.  Speakers included:  Thomas Huddleston, Programme Director, Migration and Integration, Migration Policy Group; Coordinator, Steering Committee, SIRIUS Network   Allan Kjær Andersen, Principal, Ørestad Gymnasium, Denmark Margarida Rodrigues, Research Fellow, Joint Research Centre, European Commission Aliyyah Ahad, Associate Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute Europe