• Immigration Drives Nation’s Population Growth

    A recent immigration surge brought newcomers to every state this year, helping to offset a continued drop in U.S. births while contributing to a national upswing of about 3.3 million new residents. Texas, Florida make up nearly a third of the nation’s population increase.

  • Despite Trump’s Claim, Deportations Likely Wouldn’t Ease Housing Crisis, Most Experts Say

    The mass deportations of immigrants that President-elect Donald Trump has promised aren’t likely to make a dent in the nation’s housing crisis, many experts say, despite what he and his supporters claimed during his campaign. Not only is the link between mass deportation and housing availability tenuous at best, but mass deportation may likely result in far fewer homes being built.

  • Trump Migrant Deportations Could Threaten States’ Agricultural Economies

    Roughly 40% of farmworkers are not legally authorized to work in the United States.

  • How Mass Migration Remade Postwar Europe

    Volha Charnysh’s new book examines refugees and state-building in Germany and Poland after World War II, as new residents spurred economic and civic growth.

  • Immigrants’ Resentment Over New Arrivals Helped Boost Trump’s Popularity with Latino Voters

    Across the U.S., Latino immigrants who’ve been in the country a long time felt that asylum-seekers got preferential treatment. “Those of us who have been here for years get nothing,” said one woman from Mexico who has lived in Wisconsin for decades.

  • An Immigration Debate Worth Having

    The best immigration policy is one that helps developing countries hold on to their best.

  • The Best Political Argument for More Immigration Restrictions Just Failed

    Many Republican politicians and their supporters are worried about immigrants and their descendants being permanent Democratic voters. This week’s election returns are dramatic evidence that immigrants and their children are assimilating to American political norms, that they are voting Republican in huge numbers, and that Donald Trump defeated the best politically self-interested argument for Republicans to oppose increased legal immigration.

  • The U.S. Business Community Used to Be a Force for Immigration Reform. What Happened?

    For decades, the business lobby helped shape immigration legislation and moderated the immigration debate, working alongside advocates for immigrants. In the Trump era, businesses now see more risk than reward in immigration politics. Many have prioritized what’s still doable: tax cuts and deregulation.

  • Proof That Immigrants Fuel the U.S. Economy Is Found in the Billions They Send Back Home

    Studies indicate that remittances — or money immigrants send back home — constitute 17.5% of immigrants’ income. Given that, we estimate that the immigrants who remitted in 2022 had take-home wages of over $466 billion. Assuming their take-home wages are around 21% of the economic value of what they produce for the businesses they work for – like workers in similar entry-level jobs in restaurants and construction – then immigrants added a total of $2.2 trillion to the U.S. economy yearly. That is about 8% of the U.S. GDP.

  • U. of California Faces Lawsuit for Not Hiring Illegal Aliens

    UC’s Board of Regents decided by a vote in January to suspend for one year the implementation of its policy that allowed the hiring of illegal aliens. Now, the university faces a lawsuit for not offering jobs to illegal aliens.

  • Immigration Isn’t Causing Unemployment

    Immigrants are not taking jobs away from Americans or causing the unemployment rate to rise. A decline in immigration would be a bad sign for the labor market. Immigrants come when job opportunities exist. As the labor market has cooled, fewer immigrants have been crossing the border illegally since the start of the year.

  • A Century Ago, Anti-Immigrant Backlash Almost Closed America’s Doors

    Torn between “the American dream” and fears of an ungovernable “melting pot,” Americans have always viewed immigrants ambivalently. In 1924, as is true today, many citizens thought in terms of “good” immigration versus “bad” immigration. The Immigration Act of 1924 dramatically reduced immigration from eastern and southern Europe and practically barred it from Asia.

  • USCIS Springs Unseasonable Costs and Demands on American Employers

    With spring approaching, U.S. businesses that sponsor noncitizen workers for employment‐based immigration benefits are accustomed to weathering seasonal changes. Most employers are likely ready for the initial FY 2025 H 1B lottery registration season. American businesses, however, now face particularly inclement headwinds stirred up by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) component tasked with deciding immigration‐benefits requests.

  • Tweaking U.S. Trade Policy Could Hold the Key to Reducing Migration from Central America

    Small changes to U.S. trade policy could significantly reduce the number of migrants arriving at the southern border. The Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA-DR. was aimed at encouraging trade and investment ties. But restrictive provisions, particularly its rules of origin, have hindered the region’s ability to benefit fully from the agreement. Loosening the rules to allow for new fabrics would not only attract investment and create more jobs for Central Americans, it could also reduce immigration from the region by as much as 67%, according to our estimates.

  • What Headlines Don’t Tell You About Global Migration, and What Researchers Can

    More people than ever live outside the country of their birth—281,000,000 migrants. To put it in perspective, if migrants formed their own country, it would be the fourth most populous country in the world, after China, India, and the United States. But why did they leave their home? Where are they going? Do they plan to return? Can they? Where would they be most likely to thrive? Researchers are filling critical migration data gaps and studying how people are on the move in new and different ways.