Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

On December 11, the EB-5 regional center program, a key piece of the U.S. EB-5 investor visa program is set to expire unless Congress acts to reauthorize or simply extend it. The EB-5 program grants legal permanent residence (green cards) to foreign nationals who invest at least $1 million (or $500,000 in poorer areas) in a U.S. commercial enterprise that creates or preserves ten jobs. Uncertainty about the future of the U.S. EB-5 program comes as several other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries are trying to maximize the investor visa programs’ economic benefits. Against this backdrop, Migration Policy Institute President Emeritus Demetrios Papademetriou and MPI’s Kate Hooper examine the motivations underpinning recent changes to investor visa programs in North America, Europe, and elsewhere, and the implications for the future direction of these programs.  Download Standard Podcasts

The Migration Policy Institute’s Transatlantic Council on Migration is releasing a series of reports on how governments and societies can attenuate some of the costs of emigration and capture more of its potential benefits. In this webinar, Demetrios G. Papademetriou, the Convenor of the Transatlantic Council and author of the Council Statement on ways to turn emigration challenges into opportunities, is joined by Transatlantic Council Founding Member Antonio Vitorino and Council report author Irial Glynn for a discussion on the long-term policy reforms that countries such as Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and Greece should consider in order to create meaningful employment and upward mobility opportunities at home for both natives and immigrants with the aim of both retaining and attracting back the skilled workers on whom economies depend for growth, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Download Standard Podcasts

This panel at the 12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference reviews the possible outcomes and timeline for the litigation challenging the Obama administration’s executive actions on immigration, and the political and practical challenges for implementation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program, as well as expansions to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Panelists are Heather Fong, Assistant Secretary for State and Local Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Marielena Hincapié, Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center; Dora B. Schriro, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection; Cristina Rodríguez, Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School; and moderator Muzaffar Chishti, Director of MPI’s office at NYU School of Law. The conference is organized annually by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center.Download Standard Podcasts

Immigration, never far from the headlines, has assumed even greater visibility in recent months as the election cycle heats up. In this panel discussion at the 12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, speakers Matt A. Barreto, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Latino Decisions; Fawn Johnson, Chief Policy Editor of Morning Consult; Cesar Gonzalez, Chief of Staff for Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL); and moderator Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, provide their perspectives on the role immigration is playing in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, the influence of immigration-related demographic change on policy and politics across the country, and the congressional landscape ahead for immigration action, both through appropriations and substantive legislation. The conference is organized annually by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center.Download Standard Podcasts

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson explores immigration priorities as well the status of the executive actions announced by President Obama in November 2014 during this keynote address at the 2015 Immigration Law and Policy Conference, organized by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center.Download Standard Podcasts

In this panel discussion at the 12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, speakers Bob Libal, Executive Director of Grassroots Leadership; Jonathan Ryan, Executive Director of Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES);  Esther Olavarria, Special Assistant to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and moderator Jeanne M. Atkinson, Executive Director of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), examine the current legal and political landscape of immigrant detention, the role of the private prison industry, and cost-effective and humane alternatives to detention. The conference is organized annually by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center.Download Standard Podcasts

This panel discussion at the 12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference focuses on policy and practice changes that affect the movement, arrival, and reception of unaccompanied Central American children to the United States and Mexico. Panelists are Maureen Meyer, Senior Associate for Mexico and Migrant Rights at WOLA: Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas; Jennifer Podkul, Senior Program Officer for the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women’s Refugee Commission; Reyna Torres Mendivil, Director General for the Protection of Mexicans Abroad at Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations; and moderator Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Director of the Center for Applied Legal Studies and the Human Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. The conference is organized annually by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center.Download Standard Podcasts

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres explores the strains on the global humanitarian protection system, the Syrian refugee crisis and its spillover onto Europe, and the need for leadership from the United States and other major refugee-receiving countries as the world copes with the largest levels of displacement ever recorded. This keynote address occurred at the 2015 Immigration Law and Policy Conference, organized by the Migration Policy Institute, Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and Georgetown University Law Center.Download Standard Podcasts

Conflicts in Syria and around the world have generated an estimated 19.5 million refugees, of whom just over half are children. Most refugees reside in countries of first asylum in developing regions, with relatively few officially resettled in the United States and other developed countries. The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) is releasing a series of three papers, as part of a research project supported by the Foundation for Child Development, about the education and well-being of these children. The first report discusses the mental health and schooling of Syrian refugee children living in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. The second explores the experiences of Somali Bantu refugee students in a U.S. elementary school shortly after their resettlement. And the third offers a broader look at the educational experiences of refugee children in developing countries—in camps and urban settings. In this webinar, the authors of the papers and MPI analysts presented their findings on the experiences of refugee children and the impacts on their mental health and education.Download Standard Podcasts

Against the backdrop of the refugee crisis in Europe and the unprecedented numbers of unaccompanied minors entering U.S. schools in the last two years, this webinar considers the particular challenges facing educators and policymakers as they attempt to meet the needs of immigrant and refugee students who arrive during their middle and high school years. Providing these students with instructional, linguistic, and socioemotional supports is especially complex in the secondary grades, due to the rigor of the curriculum and the short timeframe available for students to prepare for postsecondary education and the workforce.Download Standard Podcasts

With uncontrolled migration to the European Union growing by leaps and bounds and asylum applications recorded by EU Member States at an all-time high, calls for ‘solidarity’ and increased support from the EU level for Member States under pressure have grown louder. In this webinar, MPI Europe President Demetrios Papademetriou and EASO Executive Director Rob Visser, the agency’s first director, had a candid discussion on the role EASO has played in its first five years and its potential for the future, along with what strategies Europe ought to be pursuing with regards to the current crisis.Download Standard Podcasts

U.S. Customs and Border Protection had apprehended more than 76,000 unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras at the U.S.-Mexico border as of August 31, 2015—the highest level ever.These children represent a high-needs population, and their large numbers may place a strain on the states and communities that bear the costs of their education and other services with minimal federal assistance. This webinar marked the release of a new Migration Policy Institute brief that offers data and a qualitative research summary on where unaccompanied child migrants are being placed, how they are faring in immigration courts, what types of services are available to them, and how school districts and communities are adapting to their arrival.Download Standard Podcasts

The two-day Bali Forum’s concluding session discusses the “Bali Commitment on Skill Mobility in ASEAN,” a joint statement of organizations and institutions in the region identifying areas for reform and where coordinated regional action is needed and can be most effective in terms of increasing the movement of skilled professionals within the ASEAN region—a key goal of the ASEAN Economic Community. The Bali Forum was organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Migration Policy Institute (MPI) to launch a joint initiative on the mobility of skilled labor in the ASEAN region. Chairs included Imelda Nicolas, Chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas; Demetrios G. Papademetriou, President Emeritus of MPI and President of MPI Europe; and Rana Hasan, Director of the Development Economics and Indicators Division in the Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department at ADB.Download Standard Podcasts

This discussion at the Bali Forum, kicking off a joint initiative between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Migration Policy Institute (MPI), addresses questions pertaining to labor recruiting practices, foreign qualifications, and how policymakers can make the status quo more employer-friendly. Panelists include Tan Sri Dr. Munir Majid, Chairman of CIMB ASEAN Research Institute; and Supang Chantavanich, Honored Professor of Sociology and Director of the Asian Research Center for Migration (ARCM) at Chulalongkorn University; with host Ronald Skeldon, Professorial Fellow in Geography at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research.Download Standard Podcasts

This session from the Bali Forum features an in-depth conversation with national delegates on the barriers ASEAN member governments face in implementing mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) in job sectors identified for greater movement of skilled workers within ASEAN, and their plans for fully addressing them beyond 2015. The Bali Forum was organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), as part of a joint initiative which aims to reduce barriers to the free flow of skilled labor amongst countries in ASEAN.Download Standard Podcasts