Migration Policy Institute Podcasts

As the focus on returning failed asylum seekers and other migrants to their countries of origin remains high, there is a commensurate need to consider reintegration support that assists returnees in rebuilding their lives. Reintegration programs help returnees establish the social, economic, and psychosocial foundations needed to regain stability and, in the process, can aid host communities while seeking to address the drivers of irregular migration. Putting this support into practice is, however, very challenging—particularly in fragile settings, where infrastructure and services are limited, livelihood opportunities are scarce, and communities often contend with insecurity. Beyond difficulties accessing housing and property, many returnees experience significant psychosocial needs, including trauma and social stigma. Organizations supporting returning migrants also navigate specific challenges, including difficulties operating in some areas and engaging with local and national authorities. On this Migration Policy Institute Europe webinar, speakers outline under what conditions return to these fragile settings happen, and representatives from organizations that support returning migrants in Iraq, Somalia, and other fragile environments explore the specific challenges those environments pose for designing and delivering reintegration support. They also discuss the role that reintegration programming can play in helping returnees rebuild their lives and strengthening social cohesion. www.migrationpolicy.org

During his campaign, Donald Trump pledged swift and sweeping actions on immigration enforcement and policymaking more broadly. From his first day back in office, President Trump and his team began delivering on their promised “shock and awe,” with policies ranging from a halt to refugee resettlement and dramatically widened immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior to an effort to end birthright citizenship. Other high-profile actions, including the declaration of an “invasion;” dispatch of deportees to third countries such as Panama, Costa Rica, and El Salvador; and first-ever peacetime triggering of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, have followed.  Amid the “flood the zone” tempo and blizzard of headlines and legal filings during the administration's first 100 days, it is sometimes difficult to anticipate which actions will have the greatest impact and be most long-lasting.  On this webinar, MPI analysts assess the most consequential actions taken during the first 100 days, detail the litigation picture, and analyze some of the early effects of policies on communities across the United States. Read the related policy beat.

Under the right circumstances, climate-induced migration can aggravate the drivers of violent conflict. In places such as the Middle East and West Africa's Sahel region, migration during times of environmental precarity can upset delicate social and demographic balances and place additional pressure on local authorities. Left to fester, the results can be deadly. This episode explores this connection between climate change and human mobility in conversation with journalist Peter Schwartzstein, author of the book The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence.

Floods, drought, extreme temperatures, and other climate events have devastated parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Repercussions of climate change come on top of years of conflict, which have left countless numbers of people unable to adapt to changing conditions. In response, many have fled, either in short-term displacement or permanent migration. Our podcast speaks with researchers Maryam Abbasi and Nasrat Sayed about how climate change is compelling migration in Afghanistan and Pakistan, layering on top of conflict as a driver for displacement.

Connecting with and providing counselling to irregular migrants, especially those living on the streets or in transit, is crucial for addressing irregular migration. Yet it remains a challenging and underexplored area, due in part to the difficulty engaging with a population often living in precarity and avoiding contact with authorities due to fear of deportation or past negative experiences. A pervasive lack of trust coupled with a concealed lifestyle often prevents irregular migrants in Europe from accessing critical information about existing services, pathways to regularization, and voluntary return options. As a result, many remain unaware of the support available to help them exit irregularity. In recent years, various stakeholders have sought to strengthen outreach and counselling for irregular migrants, whether to encourage voluntary return, provide information on regularization, or raise awareness about access to services. However, the fragmented nature of these initiatives, combined with a lack of evidence on their effectiveness, highlights the need for greater collaboration and dialogue. This webinar brings together policymakers, practitioners, and other experts to explore the value of outreach and counselling to irregular populations and the policy goals and approaches used. The conversation includes key findings from an MPI Europe brief, offering valuable insights into challenges for those involved in outreach and counselling activities aimed at irregular migrants. The brief offers some recommendations as well as a proposed framework to advance the knowledge base in the field. The conversation also discusses the first steps towards a more solid evidence base made under the Reaching Undocumented Migrants (RUM) project carried out by the Return and Reintegration Facility (RRF), an EU-funded entity that supports EU Member States and other Schengen countries as they seek to increase the effectiveness of their return and reintegration programming. The RUM project aims to develop and promote evidence-based tools, datasets, and processes that can be used by a wide European community of practice to improve outreach to irregular migrants within the European Union. Speakers include: Jan Braat, Senior Policy Advisor, Migration, Diversity, and Integration, Municipality of Utrecht, the Netherlands Giulia Bruschi, Data and Research Project Manager Europe, Mixed Migration Centre Christina Jespersen, Senior Project Manager, Return and Reintegration Facility Jeroen Vandekerckhove, Head of International Relations, Fedasil, Belgium Moderator: María Belén Zanzuchi, Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute Europe

Natural disasters and other impacts of climate change are already affecting migration, but often in complex ways. This episode, we speak with Julia Neusner, a lawyer and researcher with the International Refugee Assistance Project. She has conducted surveys and interviews with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border about whether, where, and how they have experienced climate impacts, and offers some of their stories here. More than 40 percent of respondents said they experienced climate-related disasters, but few said those factors were the primary reason why they moved—offering further evidence of the fact that the linkages between changing climates and migration are not always clearcut.

Immigration has been a central issue for the Biden presidency, with the administration challenged by record levels of arrivals of asylum seekers and other migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border while also seeking to modernize the bureaucracy that manages the U.S. immigration system and rebuild a refugee resettlement system that had plunged to a record low under the prior administration. Sharply criticized by both the left and the right for its actions to manage the border—accused of being too hard and too soft—the administration was unable to tame the immigration issue, which became central to the 2024 national elections. This was despite a record number of immigration-related executive actions taken by President Joe Biden and federal agencies, outpacing what had been seen as the most activist presidency yet on immigration under Donald Trump. Taking office amid a global pandemic that dramatically reshaped human mobility and economies and coming on the heels of an administration that viewed immigration chiefly as a threat, the Biden administration sought to set a new immigration agenda amid a rapidly changing global, regional, and national picture. How did the administration meet this time of immense challenge? This MPI webinar examines the Biden record on border management, the legal immigration system, refugee resettlement, and other aspects of immigration. It featured findings from a new analysis of the Biden administration's actions on immigration during its four years.

For the more than 25 million U.S. residents who have limited proficiency in English, language barriers can prevent or hinder access to critical public services such as education, health care, emergency response, and the legal system. Federal, state, and local government agencies also regularly need to communicate with linguistically diverse communities to conduct outreach, deliver services, and provide information. Removing language barriers to public services—commonly known as providing language access—has been a longstanding civil-rights requirement for state and local agencies and other entities that receive federal funding. These realities and growing U.S. linguistic diversity have made the provision of language access an important practical concern for all levels of government. State governments, in particular, can play important and unique roles in expanding language access given key functions and services they directly oversee, such as elections, policing, and granting drivers' licenses, as well as the broad powers they hold in receiving and administering funds for numerous federal programs and funding streams. This webinar from the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy explores language access efforts in Colorado, Michigan, and New York—three states that provide important lessons for ensuring the effectiveness and long-term viability of state laws and policies that seek to ensure public services and information are accessible to all residents, regardless of the language they speak. State leaders provide insights into how their language access efforts evolved, how they are structured, and innovative approaches undertaken to reduce language barriers across their states. This webinar also previews findings from an MPI report on recent language access work undertaken by Colorado's state agencies.     

Successive displacement crises over the past decade, combined with limited growth in traditional resettlement, have highlighted the urgent need for alternative legal pathways for people in need of international protection. Civil-society organizations across Europe, often in collaboration with governments and other stakeholders, have launched various refugee sponsorship initiatives and complementary pathway schemes, including education and labor-based programs. While some of these initiatives have reached significant scale, many still struggle to expand. On this webinar experts explore the steps that can be taken to unlock further growth and overcome obstacles to scaling these initiatives. They also outline the key components necessary for building a robust ecosystem for growth and long-term success, highlighting innovative tools and mechanisms that are driving progress. The event launched an MPI Europe report, Complementary Pathways: Key Factors in Future Growth, which features insights and recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders engaged in expanding legal pathways for people in need of international protection. This conversation is convened under the Complementary Pathways Network (COMET) Project, which aims to develop a blueprint for complementary pathways in Europe by creating common tools and quality standards for matching, predeparture orientation, reception, and post-arrival support, and by building the capacity of receiving communities. Other COMET Project research and tools can be found at: www.cometnetwork.eu.

Despite the ongoing war and heavy destruction across Ukraine, some of the more than 6 million Ukrainians who fled after Russia's invasion in February 2022 are already returning to Ukraine. As of August 2024, an estimated 1 million Ukrainians had returned to their country from abroad, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). While most visit briefly, to see family or tend to their property, others return with the intention of staying permanently. These actions raise questions for European and Ukrainian policymakers alike about the likely scale and drivers of future returns, and how to adapt their policies to prepare for these movements. For instance, do return intentions vary across host countries, and if so, how? What factors most influence Ukrainian refugees' intentions to return? What role does security in Ukraine play in shaping return decisions? Is more generous host-country support for refugees reducing intentions to return? Finally, what policy measures are necessary to support sustainable return or deeper integration in the host society? This webinar, resulting from a research collaboration between IOM and MPI Europe, explores how personal circumstances and host-country and home-country conditions shape refugees' intentions to return or remain abroad. 

A growing body of evidence links climate events such as sea-level rise or droughts to migration—both within and across borders. As climate change amplifies the risks and severity of disasters, policymakers should better understand their options for managing how environmental change interacts with mobility. Held ahead of the COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference, this webinar offered concrete examples of how governments across the globe can respond to the nexus of climate change and migration. Speakers discussed priorities on climate migration across a range of policy areas, from labor migration and entrepreneurship, to climate adaptation planning, to humanitarian and development cooperation.  The discussion drew on a newly released series of MPI policy briefs that chart an agenda for policymakers to manage climate mobility. The briefs tackle questions such as how can governments, international organizations, and philanthropists work most effectively with local communities to design and implement programs to manage climate migration? How can immigrant workers fill jobs and promote innovation and growth in the green economy? What policy and legal tools are available for people displaced across borders by disasters and climate change? And what are the cues that will shape how receiving communities react to the arrival of climate migrants?

Many countries need more workers to fill jobs in clean energy and other sectors that are critical in the fight against a warming planet. Immigrants may be one part of the solution to the challenges posed by climate change. But governments have been slow to ramp up responses to recruit, train, or accredit foreign-born workers necessary for the green transition, with one model estimating a shortage of 7 million green workers globally by 2030. This episode discusses the labor picture and global trends in green sectors with Kate Hooper, a Migration Policy Institute senior policy analyst who focuses on global labor migration.

The international humanitarian protection system that was built in the aftermath of World War II does not offer protection for people displaced by climate change. In this episode, former UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees T. Alexander Aleinikoff, who is now Executive Dean of The New School for Social Research, calls the refugee system “broken.” Rather than expanding to accommodate climate migrants, he makes the case for starting over with a new paradigm focused on a right not to be displaced. Such a system would be designed to help people stay in their homes through climate adaptations and resilience, he argues, and provide a mechanism for seeking justice.

The ways in which people talk about climate migration can affect how individuals are treated. While many activists frame climate migrants as blameless victims of circumstance and even refer to them as “climate refugees,” this approach does not always lead to public sympathy. Moreover, highlighting the role of climate in displacement can unintentionally cause a backlash among host communities, who themselves likely are experiencing or expecting to face similar environmental challenges. In this episode, we speak with Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, who is deputy director of MPI's International Program and our in-house expert on public opinion and migration messaging, about the narratives and public attitudes towards climate migrants.

The Arctic region is warming much faster than other parts of the world. Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—have a reputation for being at the forefront of efforts to combat climate change. But does their track record also extend to helping people who have been displaced by environmental impacts, internally and internationally? In this episode, we discuss the impacts and responses in the Nordic region. Our guests are the researchers Miriam Cullen and Matthew Scott, who are among the leaders of the Nordic Network on Climate Related Displacement and Mobility.

Climate change is remaking vacations, particularly in hot months. Extreme heat can be deadly for tourists and events such as wildfires, hurricanes, and sea-level rise can devastate tourism-dependent communities. Tourism is also a major contributor to climate change, and some travelers have begun rethinking their plans, taking emissions into account as they consider transportation and destinations. This episode explores how climate change is affecting global tourism. Our guest is Daniel Scott, research chair at the University of Waterloo's Department of Geography and Environmental Management and an international research fellow at the School of Hospitality and Tourism at the University of Surrey.

More than 25 million U.S. residents have limited proficiency in English, and as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, all levels of government have an important need to deliver services, outreach, and critical health and safety information to individuals and communities who communicate in languages other than English. Providing access to public services and information for individuals who have limited proficiency in English has been a civil rights requirement for federally funded state and local programs for decades. Ensuring these entities meet their language access obligations has become a more pressing concern in recent years due to the size, growth, and dispersal of the country's immigrant and Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations. Because federal funding reaches so deeply into state and local systems and so widely across the country, language access requirements affect virtually all sectors of government and cover many programs delivered by state and local governments, companies, and community organizations. However, significant gaps in compliance with these requirements by recipients of federal funds mean that language access often remains a goal rather than a reality. During this webinar, speakers discuss research from the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy that details next-generation strategies the federal government can use to support state and local programs in effectively operationalizing and sustaining meaningful language access. Speakers also highlight current challenges in providing language access in federally supported programs and offer recommendations for how to weave language access into existing processes; maximize limited resources; and foster a more coordinated, effective, and efficient federal response to agency and public needs.

Floods and other fast-moving natural disasters are becoming more common and more severe because of climate change. When these disasters strike, they can displace huge numbers of people. This episode turns to Brazil, where historic flooding in 2024 forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Our guest is Valéria Emília de Aquino, a human-rights lawyer and researcher in Brazil.

Human mobility has reached a new scale and complexity amid rapid transformations, ranging from changing climates and the COVID-19 pandemic to urbanization and demographic shifts. Following an unprecedented era of border closures during the pandemic, the past two years have seen a major rebound in human mobility, alongside new displacement crises, climate shocks, and the resurgence of labor migration in response to acute shortages. Global mobility flows continue to shift and diversify, featuring an increasingly complex mix of regular and irregular migration and displacement. Yet understanding the rapidly evolving nature of global mobility remains a challenge. This webinar marks the launch of the latest Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) research collaboration exploring the rich tapestry of human movement in a post-pandemic world. The conversation, featuring opening remarks by IOM Deputy Director General of Operations Ugochi Daniels, showcases findings from the report, which taps into IOM data that permit diverse analysis of movements.  Speakers highlight a mix of data-driven and human stories about the way that cross-border mobility has been spurred and disrupted in the wake of the pandemic. From a resurgence in short-term mobility in Southern Africa and labor migration to the Arabian Peninsula to diversifying flows across the Americas and an uptick in asylum seeking to Europe, the report and discussion explore the rapidly shifting nature of today's mobility trends and outline the role of migration policy in managing and responding to growing challenges.

Young children in immigrant and refugee families can encounter mental-health risks related to their migration and integration experiences, ranging from discrimination and economic stress to persecution and violence in the case of young refugees. Infant and early childhood mental-health (IECMH) services have the potential to provide beneficial supports and treatment during the foundational early years for these young immigrants, promoting their healthy development and future well-being. However, many immigrant families, who are less likely overall to participate in early childhood services, face unique barriers to accessing IECMH supports across the spectrum of promotion, prevention, screening, and treatment.    In this webinar, speakers discuss the importance of IECMH and highlight approaches that have successfully connected immigrant and refugee families with beneficial and culturally relevant services. Featuring recommendations from a MPI policy brief, the discussion explored opportunities to expand the accessibility and responsiveness of IECMH services to immigrant communities.

The U.S. military has long warned that climate change poses a challenge to global security. Instability and insecurity can be a result of unmanaged migration, with the potential for widespread climate displacement creating tensions in host communities. And they could also spark additional migration, if people flee precarious political dynamics. This episode, with Climate Migration Council member and retired U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott H. Swift, evaluates the security dynamics of climate change and migration, focusing on the Pacific.

In recent years, the Ethiopian government has pledged to increase access to education and employment for the more than 900,000 refugees living in Ethiopia, most in camps. There have been ups and downs along the way, but a few key trends have emerged. In this episode of our podcast, Migration Policy Institute Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz speaks with researcher Abis Getachew about the major policy shifts to open classrooms and jobs to refugees and whether they have been successful.

Do countries that are major polluters have a moral responsibility to aid people displaced by hurricanes, sea-level rise, and other events driven or exacerbated by climate change? What form might that responsibility take? For this episode, we are joined by Jamie Draper, who focuses on political philosophy and ethics at Utrecht University. While he argues that certain countries do have a responsibility to aid displaced people, labeled “climate migrants” by some, in his view that does not necessarily translate to offering them protection.

The world is grappling with the idea of restitution for people who have been negatively affected by the impacts of climate change—potentially including displacement within a country or across international borders. World leaders are at the early stages of creating a global loss and damage fund to financially compensate these climate victims. Much remains unresolved, including complicated and controversial questions about which countries owe money to whom, and how to attach a dollar figure to intangible losses such as destruction of natural land. In this episode, we speak with Adelle Thomas from Climate Analytics to wade through the thicket of challenges ahead, in particular as relates to climate migrants—those displaced by hostile environmental conditions linked to a rapidly changing climate.

Many people are leaving rural mountain areas around the globe because their livelihoods are becoming less profitable and the threat of landslides and other disasters is increasing. As the impacts of climate change grow, these mountain residents may face additional challenges dealing with environmental disruption. And by moving to urban areas, they may face a new set of issues and lose connection with their homelands. In this episode, we speak with Amina Maharjan from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development about the unique climate migration issues that are witnessed in mountain regions.

A landmark climate migration deal inked in late 2023 would allow hundreds of climate-vulnerable residents of the small island nation of Tuvalu to move to Australia. The pact is the latest step for a region that is at the leading edge globally in policy experimentation to address climate displacement. This Australia-Tuvalu deal, which is not uncontroversial, follows a brief and ultimately shelved attempt by New Zealand to create a “climate refugee” visa. How are these policies playing out, and what can the rest of the world learn from the Pacific experiences? This episode features renowned legal scholar Jane McAdam, who directs the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW.

Secondary cities are increasingly gaining attention as homes to refugees and other migrants and, as result, they are targets of development programming and international support. In Africa, these secondary cities are seeing their overall populations swell even as migrant numbers also increase, placing pressure on services such as education, health care, and sanitation. At the same time, refugees and other migrants often find it difficult to access jobs and build livelihoods, preventing them from achieving self-reliance. In order to surmount these challenges and achieve long-term socioeconomic inclusion, public policy changes and support are needed, along with partnerships that could facilitate the path to inclusion. Marking the release of the report, Migration and Displacement in Secondary Cities: Insights from Côte d'Ivoire and Uganda, this webinar examines the challenges that refugees and other migrants face in—and place on—secondary cities, and the capacity of these municipalities to respond to these needs. Speakers explore possible strategies that local governments and partners can take to address socioeconomic and inclusion challenges while being sensitive to gender dynamics. The webinar asks what types of support are needed at national, regional, and international levels, and how development actors can better partner with secondary cities and local communities in their programming.

The U.S. government in 2021 recommitted to the U.S. refugee resettlement program following several years of dismantling and record-low admissions. This reconstruction is taking place even as the resettlement program has been tasked with scaling up to meet the needs of refugees admitted in the wake of emergency resettlement initiatives, Operation Allies Welcome and Uniting for Ukraine, which have brought in more than 200,000 Afghan and Ukrainian refugees since 2021. This rebuilding is also occurring against the backdrop of unprecedented numbers of humanitarian migrants entering the United States through immigration parole pathways or the asylum system. Collectively, these developments have consequences for local capacities, affecting public health systems, schools, and other human services. As a result, coordination and communication among key stakeholders in the resettlement network has never been more critical.  During this MPI webinar, speakers will discuss the importance of community consultation in a rapidly evolving landscape, and explore how consultation supports capacity building and where it can, at times, fall short. Marking the release of a new MPI report, The Unmet Potential of Community Consultations in U.S. Refugee Resettlement, this webcast will explore key recommendations and actionable steps toward a more inclusive, collaborative, and adaptable consultation process.

Migration is complex, and rarely is there only one single factor that prompts people to leave their homes. That is especially true when climate change is involved, since its impacts on internal and international migration are often indirect and hard to trace. So when we talk about climate migration, what exactly do we mean? And why is the distinction important? Kerilyn Schewel, co-director of Duke University's Program on Climate-Related Migration, joins this episode of the podcast to help make sense of the terminology and why it matters.

With the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) approaching, most of the planning focus has been on resettlement and complementary pathways pledges that will be announced at the December gathering and the number of refugees that states are committing to admit. Far less attention is being given to the crucial issues of how countries will reach their goals, whether the necessary capacity and infrastructure exist, and if there is effective coordination between the state and nonstate actors involved at different levels. Effective communication and collaboration between local and national authorities are essential to ensure that resettlement and complementary pathways pledges are grounded in the realistic capacity and goodwill of local governments. Engaging with these local authorities, who often oversee reception and integration processes, can also enhance post-arrival planning and, therefore, refugees' integration prospects. Recent responses to the displacement of Ukrainians underscored the benefits of involving local authorities, as they have played a crucial role in identifying housing solutions and providing informal integration support through innovative local-national coordination and communication.  This MPI Europe discussion considers how municipalities and other key stakeholders can be engaged in informing and delivering on the 2024 resettlement and complementary pathways pledges. Featuring findings from the recent publication Improving Stakeholder Coordination in Refugee Resettlement: A Path to More Effective, Inclusive Programs, this webinar explores opportunities for effective multi-level engagement ahead of the GRF.

Travel documents play an important role in international mobility, and for refugees serve as an essential gateway to a world of opportunities, from pursuing education and employment to reuniting with family. In this episode, MPI's Susan Fratzke unpacks the complexities around travel documents and their pivotal role in refugees' livelihoods with Adhieu Achuil Kueth, founder of MonyQadow, and Jackie Keegan, deputy director of the Division of International Protection for Resettlement and Complementary Pathways at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Kueth shares her first-hand experience traveling on a refugee travel document and her commitment to aiding fellow refugees in accessing higher education opportunities. Keegan sheds light on the challenges refugees face in obtaining these essential documents. Tune in to learn more.

Can climate-driven international migration pose a security threat? Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff thinks so, but not necessarily because of the migrants themselves. Irregular migration prompted by climate events can empower smugglers and criminal groups. And it can spur an extremist backlash in receiving countries if people feel their government is not adequately protecting them. Chertoff talks about the security implications of climate change and migration in this episode of the podcast.

Building on its humanitarian parole programs for the admission of Afghan and Ukrainian nationals, the Biden administration established such a program for Venezuelans in October 2022 and expanded it to include Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan nationals in January 2023.  The “CHNV” humanitarian parole program requires a sponsor in the United States, such as a citizen or lawful permanent resident, and enables the United States to admit up to 30,000 nationals from those four countries every month. The White House announced that it is encouraging individuals “to seek orderly and lawful pathways to migration and reduce overcrowding along the southwest border and the strain on the immigration system.” Due to very high interest in the program, a significant backlog of CHNV applications developed by May 2023. According to one study, the CHNV program has already prevented the entry of hundreds of thousands of unauthorized immigrants along the southern border with Mexico. Among other important issues, the panelists will discuss: What are the successes and challenges of these programs? What will happen to those admitted after the two years of humanitarian parole status expires? To what extent are such parolees applying for asylum or other legal immigration statuses? How are these new lawful pathways affecting the number of arrivals from these countries at the southern border with Mexico?  Speakers: Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Professor from Practice, Georgetown Law; Co-Director, Center for Applied Legal Studies; Faculty Director, Human Rights Institute, Georgetown Law David J. Bier, Associate Director, Immigration Studies, CATO Institute Dara Lind, Senior Fellow, American Immigration Council Royce Bernstein Murray, Senior Counselor, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Full and fair access to immigration legal services is vital to ensure justice for asylum seekers and other migrants seeking protection in the immigration courts or immigration status before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Legal representation is also essential to the effective functioning of the immigration court system, improving outcomes and appearances at all levels—an essential element for a body that is facing more than 2 million pending cases. Resolution of affirmative applications before USCIS and immigration court cases takes years, and the waiting times continue to grow. For poor and low-income immigrants, there is an average of only one legal representative for 1,413 unauthorized persons in the United States and this number varies greatly by state. Panelists discuss the current state of immigration legal services and the growing need for representation. They address the importance of investment in universal representation and the use of innovation and technology to ensure access to justice for those seeking status and protection in the United States. Legal services strengthen the integrity of the institutions which implement U.S. immigration laws and uphold due process and international law principles.   Speakers: Anna Marie Gallagher, Executive Director, CLINIC Rodrigo Camarena, Director, Justicia Lab Annie Chen, Initiative Director, Advancing Universal Representation, Vera Institute Emmett Soper, Counsel to the Director, Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Department of Justice Wendy Young, President, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) www.migrationpolicy.org

Since 2010, no world region has experienced a greater relative increase in international migration than Latin America and the Caribbean. While much of that migration, driven in part by political and economic crises or natural disasters, has remained within the region, there has been significant movement northward. Governments, including the U.S. government, increasingly have come to realize that migration management and humanitarian protection require regional approaches, as articulated through the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, and have begun efforts to channel migration into lawful pathways and expand protection mechanisms. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have played a vital role in helping structure these efforts across the hemisphere, working with governments and civil-society organizations to build a new but still quite incipient architecture for migration and protection. This armchair conversation with key international organization leaders offers a big-picture view of the approaches to today's migration flows and humanitarian imperatives. Speakers: Diego Chaves-González, Senior Manager, Latin America and Caribbean Initiative, MPI Jon Hoisaeter, Deputy Representative to USA & Caribbean, UNHCR – the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Vincent Houver, Chief of Mission in Washington, DC, International Organization for Migration (IOM) www.migrationpolicy.org

A new era of state policymaking and operational action on immigration has begun, led by Texas and Florida, which set off tensions with state and local officials elsewhere by busing and flying asylum seekers and other migrants from the Texas-Mexico border into the U.S. interior. While state-level involvement in immigration policymaking is not new, the Florida and Texas decisions to drop off migrants in other jurisdictions, often with little to no notice, has raised new tensions between states and city leaders. This panel, moderated by MPI Senior Fellow Muzaffar Chishti and featuring city and NGO leaders and other experts, examines the diverse directions states are going in. Some are advancing immigrants' rights even as Texas installs buoys on the Rio Grande and encourages other states to send their National Guards to the border. The panel also focuses on how cities such as Chicago, Washington, DC, and New York have addressed the arrivals of tens of thousands of migrants; the provision of services to these newcomers; and the fiscal impacts. Speakers: Muzaffar Chishti, MPI Senior Fellow and Director of the MPI office at New York University School of Law Miriam Jordan, National Immigration Correspondent, The New York Times Abel Nuñez, Executive Director, Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) Beatriz Ponce de León, Deputy Mayor of Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights, Office of the Mayor of Chicago Michael J. Wishnie, William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law, Yale Law School www.migrationpolicy.org

The U.S. immigration policy space has seen a high degree of dynamism—and disorder—over the past year. A raft of new humanitarian and legal immigration policies has been advanced amid record unauthorized arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border, a growing recognition that migration is increasingly hemispheric in nature, the end of a pandemic-era expulsions policy that the government had come to rely upon, and continued congressional inaction on immigration. The courts have been active players, in some cases blocking prominent executive-branch policies. And some states, led by Texas and Florida, have noisily entered the arena. Where is this turbulent period headed? How is the Biden administration executing on its vision for a new post-pandemic strategy at the border and beyond? Is long-standing executive branch pre-eminence on immigration eroding as the courts and states assume greater roles? And where is immigration likely to stand as an issue in upcoming national elections? MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner leads a panel of experts in tackling these and other issues. Speakers: Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director of U.S. Immigration Policy Program, MPI Ronald Brownstein, Senior Editor, The Atlantic, and Senior Political Analyst, CNN Linda Chavez, Senior Fellow, Open Society, Niskanen Center, and President, Becoming American Initiative Angela Maria Kelley, Chief Advisor, Policy and Partnerships, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Blas Nuñez-Neto, Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy and Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of International Affairs, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) www.migrationpolicy.org

African migrants harness the strength of kinship in pursuit of security and stability as they settle in a European landscape that is sometimes made precarious by their legal status and shifting policies. In this episode, MPI Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz discusses this fascinating phenomenon with Apostolos Andrikopoulos, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow at Harvard University and the University of Amsterdam. Together, they dive into the intricate web of kinship-based support systems employed by African migrants as they navigate migration routes and integration at destination, including through the exchange or brokering of identity documents. All in their quest for a better life. Tune in for an engaging conversation. 

Providing meaningful access to public services for individuals with limited proficiency in English is both a longstanding civil-rights requirement for federal programs and an important policy consideration given growing linguistic diversity in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought language access to the forefront by demonstrating the necessity of providing critical government services and information to individuals who speak languages other than English. Hand in hand with this growing visibility, recent years have also seen the expansion of federal, state, and local government efforts to develop and improve language access policies and programs. The Biden administration has engaged in a number of efforts to foster greater language access across federal programs. This has involved government-wide initiatives that include language access as part of advancing equity for underserved populations, supporting newcomers' integration, and better addressing the needs of ethnic or immigrant communities with large numbers of speakers of languages other than English. Individual federal agencies also have expanded their efforts to improve language access in their services and ensure state and local programs receiving federal funding do so as well. This webinar from MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy explores executive-branch efforts related to language access provision. White House and Department of Health and Human Services officials and a leading language access advocate provide an overview of the various strands of the administration's work and discuss former, current, and upcoming actions connected to language access. The webinar provides insights into the challenges and opportunities in this area and explore options to foster greater language access in federal programs. MPI's Language Access Work  Recommendations for the Task Force on New Americans on Language Access 

Facing converging challenges related to climate change, natural disasters, and migration, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region in Eastern Africa is in a particularly vulnerable position. With countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda regularly impacted by drought, flooding, or other natural disasters, the decision to migrate is frequently driven by environmental factors, alongside economic and social ones. As climate-related human mobility increases, the pressing situation in the IGAD region and responses can offer broader lessons for other parts of the world. During this MPI webinar, climate experts and regional authorities outline the challenges related to climate change and human mobility that local communities, national governments, and the IGAD region are confronting. The speakers discuss priorities within the region to address climate-related displacement, the engagement of various stakeholders, efforts to facilitate safe and orderly migration, and potential solutions. They also offer key recommendations for future policies and programs in the region and beyond. The webinar is linked to the publication of an external evaluation led by MPI of a landmark program on migration, disasters, and climate change in the IGAD region.  

What does the future of refugee resettlement look like? In this World of Migration episode, MPI Senior Policy Analyst Susan Fratzke leads an insightful conversation about sponsorship of refugees by private individuals and community groups. With humanitarian protection systems struggling to address record needs, more countries—including the United States—are turning to private or community sponsorship. Tune in to hear from Erin Shutte Wadzinski, who leads one of the pioneering sponsorship groups in Worthington, Minnesota. She discusses the Welcome Corps program launched by the U.S. government in January 2023. What does it mean to be a sponsor? How much responsibility do sponsors take on? What is the private sponsorship experience for refugees? Is this model working well? The conversation offers answers to these and other questions.

While efforts to incorporate refugee voices into humanitarian protection practices continue to gain momentum, meaningful consultation of refugees in sponsorship program operations remains limited. And there is little reflection on opportunities for improvement. Consultation with sponsored refugees on their experiences can help identify areas for improvement and inform how to do so. Involving refugees in the creation of key program elements, such as predeparture orientation or postarrival training, can help mitigate the risk of cultural shock. Engaging previously sponsored refugees as mentors for newcomers or as trainers of volunteer sponsors can help bridge cultural gaps, improve integration outcomes, and bolster volunteer efforts. Promoting refugee engagement in advocacy can also help raise awareness about the value and scale of the sponsorship pathway. In this webinar, speakers examined the challenges that hinder refugee participation in sponsorship program design and operation and explore meaningful ways, tools, and mechanisms for effectively expanding refugees' role in current and future programs. The conversation showcased innovative initiatives that are already making strides in refugee involvement. This webinar was convened under the Building Capacity for Private Sponsorship in the European Union project (known as CAPS-EU), which is working to build capacity to design, implement, sustain, and scale up community sponsorship programs for refugees. Led by the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) and supported by the Belgian reception agency (Fedasil) and MPI Europe, the project is co-financed by the European Commission under the Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund.

Facing the adverse impacts of climate change, many people are better off migrating, whether within their country or internationally, at least for a short time. Yet for a variety of reasons, migration is not always possible. This episode of our podcast focuses on these groups, sometimes known as “trapped populations.” Why do people stay in places where their homes, livelihoods, and their very lives are threatened? We explore these questions with Caroline Zickgraf, deputy director of the Hugo Observatory at the University of Liège in Belgium.

Governments in West Africa have intensified their efforts to manage migration more effectively and to greater benefit. Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders are exploring ways to boost remittance receipts, harness the potential of diasporas for developments, and enhance international financial connections. What are the latest migration dynamics in West Africa, and how are African leaders responding to these trends? Can European and African policymakers collaborate to create safer and better-managed migration between the two continents? In this episode, Migration Policy Institute Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz engages in a conversation with Leander Kandilige, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana. Tune in to learn more about the complexities of migration policymaking in West Africa and the opportunities.

West Africa's Sahel region is experiencing crisis, with outbreaks of violence, weak economies, and governance issues. These challenges are compounded by the impacts of climate change, leading to an increasing number of people being internally displaced or seeking refuge in other countries. What do migration flows look like? And how are governments in the region responding? In this episode, Migration Policy Institute Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz discusses displacement in the Sahel with Alexandra Tapsoba, a development economist at the Higher Institute for Population Sciences at the University Joseph Ki-Zerbo in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Tune in for an interesting conversation on an often overlooked region.

Voluntary return and sustainable reintegration involve a large network of stakeholders in countries of origin and destination, each working under different (although sometimes overlapping) authorities and policy environments. Given the multiplicity of voluntary return and reintegration strategies and programs in recent years, stakeholders are sometimes unclear about the strategic priorities that others within their networks are pursuing. Ensuring wider awareness about goals is a key first step towards successful cooperation, including around questions of ownership and funding of initiatives. So is the success of public information campaigns around voluntary return and reintegration, as well as opportunities after return and tackling the prejudice often directed at returnees. While public communication has improved, with dedicated awareness campaigns undertaken by civil society and government entities in countries of migrant origin and destination alike, many challenges remain. Among them are inadequate outreach to the most vulnerable groups and the need to counter misinformation and rumors about the profile of returnees. Some questions are also pending as to which actors and formats are the most suited for successful engagement, whether through official government channels, diaspora groups and other civil society actors, or returnees sharing their experience. This Migration Policy Institute (MPI) webinar explores the goals and target audiences for public-facing information campaigns on voluntary return and reintegration, how to evaluate dissemination gaps, and the risks associated with inadvertently issuing messages that are not trusted or are misunderstood. This webinar is part of a research partnership between MPI and the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The U.S. immigration court system is struggling with backlogs that have swelled to a record 1.9 million cases—with more than 700,000 added last year alone. The result is that cases, more than 40 percent of which are claims for asylum, take years to adjudicate—depriving people eligible for relief of decisions, undermining the effectiveness of immigration enforcement, and incentivizing unauthorized arrivals. What factors have brought the court system to the breaking point? What technological and other changes are being implemented to improve the judicial process? And, recognizing that Congress is unlikely to overhaul the immigration courts any time soon, what steps can be taken administratively to strengthen the system? This conversation marks the launch of a major report (available at: https://bit.ly/immcourtsreport) examining the status of the court system, the factors that have driven it to a state of crisis, and recommendations that would enable the courts to more reliably deliver decisions that are both timely and fair. Speakers include: Jojo Annobil, Executive Director, Immigrant Justice Corps; Muzaffar Chishti, MPI Senior Fellow and Director, MPI office at NYU School of Law; David L. Neal, Director, Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Justice Department; Blas Nuñez-Neto, Assistant Secretary for Border and Immigration Policy and Acting Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and the moderator Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, MPI.

Climate migration sounds simple. It's not. This episode of the podcast speaks with Lawrence Huang, MPI's lead researcher on climate change and migration, to answer the most common questions around one of the least understood dynamics in human movement.

Migration from Haiti, while longstanding, took on new urgency after a 2010 earthquake decimated the country. In the years since, Haitians have fanned out across the Americas. Less focus has been given to the migration of Haitians within the Caribbean and their experiences there. In this episode, Migration Policy Institute Senior Policy Analyst Valerie Lacarte speaks with experts Bridget Wooding and Louby George about migration of Haitians to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, is the second top destination for Haitians after the United States; the Bahamas hosts a much smaller share of the nearly 1.8 million Haitians who have sought protection or improved living conditions outside their country. What have been the policy responses? And the warmth of the welcome? Tune in.

Making refugee participation meaningful has been at the forefront of discussions within the protection community. At the global level, refugee participation has increasingly become an important part of preparations for dialogues, policy fora, and convenings; national governments have begun to set up advisory boards and consultative mechanisms to better incorporate refugee perspectives and voices into decision-making. These developments are relatively new, however, and there has been little systematic evidence gathering or evaluation to determine whether these opportunities are truly meaningful and how effective they have been in terms of influencing policy and programming.  As opportunities for participation proliferate, in particular in the run-up to the 2023 Global Refugee Forum, there is an opportunity to set the framework for evaluating future efforts at facilitating refugee participation. This would allow stakeholders to better understand the effectiveness of policies that result from meaningful engagement, as well as distinguish between tokenistic and meaningful participation. In this webinar, key stakeholders discuss what makes refugee engagement meaningful and how this links to improved policies, how meaningful participation can be evaluated, and what lessons learned should be implemented. The conversation showcases findings from the publication Building Meaningful Refugee Participation into Protection Policymaking from the Beyond Territorial Asylum: Making Protection Work in a Bordered World initiative led by MPI and the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

Humanitarian organizations often race to help people affected by natural disasters. But what if they could act before catastrophes occur to mitigate disaster-induced forced migration? In this episode, we discuss this kind of anticipatory action and how it might reduce chaotic displacement. Our guests are Gana Gantulga and Zeke Simperingham from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.