Borders/Immig

The Contribution of High‐Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States
By Shai Bernstein, Rebecca Diamond, Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon, Beatriz Pousada, and Timothy McQuade
Innovation and technological progress are key determinants of economic growth. There is growing evidence that immigrants play a key role in U.S. innovation. Based on a 2003 survey, U.S. immigrants with a four‐year college degree were twice as likely to have a patent than U.S.-born college graduates.
- Read more
Bavaria Promotes Its Border Police as Model for Germany
By William Noah Glucroft
With state elections coming up and migration on the rise, State Premier Markus Söder is stumping for border security. His revamped border police are five years old — supporters and critics disagree on their necessity.
- Read more

Eritrea Stoking Conflicts Between Its Migrants Abroad
By Mimi Mefo Takambou
The repressive regime of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has forced many Eritreans to seek refuge abroad. Some commentators believe Afwerki is stoking conflict between Eritrean migrants and their host nations.
- Read more
Florida Arrests Undocumented Migrant Under State’s New Law
By Yeny Garcia
A Mexican citizen taken into custody for allegedly driving without U.S. papers and transporting undocumented people was one of the first people to be arrested under Florida’s controversial SB 1718, considered the most restrictive state law regarding migrants in the United States.
- Read more

U.S.-Mexico Border World’s Deadliest Migration Land Route
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) documented 686 deaths and disappearances of migrants on the US-Mexico border in 2022, making it the deadliest land route for migrants worldwide on record.
- Read more
Federal Judge Orders Texas to Remove Floating Border Barrier. Abbott Immediately Appeals the Ruling.
By William Melhado and Uriel J. Garcia
Nearly three months after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the deployment of the 1,000-foot line of buoys and mesh in the Rio Grande, an Austin federal judge ordered the state to remove the barrier and stop building further obstructions in the river.
- Read more

TPS Extended for Six Countries, Advocates Urge Status for More
By Aline Barros
The Biden administration recently announced an extension and redesignation of the program that gives temporary protection from deportation for nationals of Sudan and Ukraine. Nationals of El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua also have had their protection extended.
- Read more
Expedited Work Permits for Migrants a Key Part of “Ttransition to Life” in NYS
As New York grapples with an influx of migrants, two Cornell University law professors call on the administration to expedite the work authorization process for these migrants under the Administrative Procedures Act, so that they can begin to work, thus helping address the state’s labor shortages and take care of themselves.
- Read more

Fortune 500 Companies with Immigrant Roots Generated More Money Than the GDP of Most Western Nations
By Steven Hubbard
When Fortune released this year’s Fortune 500 list—the magazine’s iconic ranking of the year’s top-grossing American companies—one fact remained unchanged from previous years: the profound role that immigrants and their children have played in establishing many of the U.S. most successful and influential companies.
- Read more
Immigration Restrictions Are Affirmative Action for Natives
By Alex Nowrasteh
U.S. immigration restrictions are the most anti‐meritocratic policies today, and they are intended as affirmative action for native‐born Americans. When people think of anti‐meritocratic policies, they rightly jump to quotas, race‐based affirmative action, or class‐based affirmative action. It’s true; those are all anti‐meritocratic and likely wouldn’t exist in a free market outside of a handful of organizations in the non‐profit sector. But U.S. immigration restrictions are worse. Those who truly favor meritocracy and oppose affirmative action on principle should reject the anti‐meritocratic affirmative action of American immigration laws.
- Read more

DOJ Argues in Federal Court for Removal of Texas’ Floating Border Barrier
By Sneha Dey
In a court hearing over the barrier near Eagle Pass, the U.S. Justice Department argued it was installed without federal authorization, while lawyers for the state said it notified the proper authorities.
- Read more
Why Some Wisconsin Lawmakers and Local Officials Have Changed Their Minds About Letting Undocumented Immigrants Drive
By Melissa Sanchez
“If we suddenly kicked out all of the people here, the undocumented, our dairy farms would collapse,” one lawmaker said. “We have to come up with a solution.”
- Read more

Thinking-Style Differences Associated with Anti-Immigrant Conspiracy Beliefs
People who think more analytically, rather than intuitively, are less likely to believe in the “great replacement” conspiracy. This association remained when individual differences in political ideology and education were statistically controlled in the analyses. People who think analytically also have higher ‘faith’ in science, disbelief in paranormal phenomena, and lower religiosity.
- Read more
Body Found Stuck in Buoys Texas Installed in the Rio Grande
By Uriel J. Garcia and William Melhado
Texas authorities believe the person drowned upstream and floated into the buoys near Eagle Pass. Mexico criticized Texas’ placement of the buoys along the river.
- Read more
Federal Government Is Challenging Texas Setting Up Buoys in the Rio Grande – Here’s Why These Kinds of Border Blockades Wind Up Complicating Immigration Enforcement
By Jean Lantz Reisz
The Rio Grande is the site of a legal battle between the U.S. federal government and the state of Texas regarding the right to enact blockades in the river. The U.S. Justice Department announced on July 24, 2023, that it filed a civil lawsuit against Texas for illegally placing a floating buoy barrier in a section of the Rio Grande that runs about 1,000 feet, or 304 meters, long.
- Read more

More headlines