US Immigration Reform Initiative

Strengthening US Immigration and Refugee Protection Policies: Research, Analysis and Policy Proposals

Since 2014, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) has published reports, articles, and papers devoted to reform of the US immigration and refugee protection systems. Each publication concludes with policy recommendations – legislative, administrative, and programmatic – directed at federal, state, local and non-governmental organizations. These papers can serve as a valuable resource to public officials, policy influencers, and advocates for more effective, inclusive, and rights-respecting immigration and refugee policies. These papers cover:

The national interests served by immigration and refugee protection.
Citizenship and immigrant integration.
Migration management and governance.
Family-based immigration.
US residents without status, including those brought to the US as children.
The US refugee resettlement program.
Statelessness.
Asylum.
Temporary protection.
Central American migration, including of unaccompanied children.
US enforcement and border enforcement policies.
Immigrant detention.
Legal representation, due process and the rule of law.
Immigrants and public safety.
Public charge grounds of inadmissibility.
Immigrant laborers, including essential workers, and labor standards enforcement.

An indexed summary of select papers can be found here. Many of these papers were originally published in special collections of CMS’s Journal on Migration and Human Security (JMHS), which cover the US immigration system, immigration enforcement, refugee protection, and a collection honoring former Department of Justice official Juan Osuna on access to justice, the rule of law, and due process. These collections also include articles that analyze the provisions of comprehensive bills, and the causes of migration. Many of the papers profile particular populations of US noncitizens. The papers typically illustrate the long tenure, family ties, work, and other contributions of these groups to US society.

Most recently, CMS has published a report in collaboration with the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility that sets forth 40 administrative actions that the new administration can take to strengthen and revitalize the US immigration and refugee protection systems. It has also published an exhaustive study and report, in collaboration with Refugee Council USA, on rebuilding and strengthening the US refugee resettlement system.

All of these sources seek to outline a flexible, secure, and evidence-based immigration system that would serve the nation’s interests, reflect its liberal democratic ideals, meet its international commitments, and maximize the benefits from talented, hardworking immigrants from throughout the world. It will soon initiate a series of interviews and conversations with select authors on their policy recommendations and what they see as opportunities and challenges to achieving them.

The Biden Administration

President Biden’s Executive Actions on Immigration

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. set forth an ambitious immigration agenda in the early days of the Biden-Harris administration, committing both to reverse harmful policies implemented by the Trump administration and to revitalize the US immigration system more broadly. In his first 100 days in office, President Biden articulated his immigration and refugee protection goals and reversed many of his predecessor’s policies in a series of executive actions. He also raised the refugee admissions cap for FY 2021 and endorsed the US Citizenship Act of 2021, which would represent the most sweeping immigration reform legislation in decades and create the largest legalization program in US history. President Biden’s executive actions address the situation at the southern border, root causes of irregular migration from Central America, impacts of climate change on migration, COVID-19 travel restrictions, and fortification of existing legal immigration pathways, as well as commitments to create new ones....

Date of Publication:June 2, 2021Authors: Donald Kerwin, Robert Warren, and Charles Wheeler Making Citizenship an Organizing Principle of the US Immigration System

This paper proposes that the United States treat naturalization not as the culmination of a long and uncertain individual process, but as an organizing principle of the US immigration system and its expectation for new Americans. It comes at a historic inflection point, following the chaotic departure of one of the most nativist administrations in US history and in the early months of a new administration whose executive orders, administrative actions, and legislative proposals augur an entirely different view of immigrants and immigration. The paper examines two main ways that the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration agenda can be realized – by expanding access to permanent residence and by increasing naturalization numbers and rates. First, it proposes administrative and, to a lesser degree, legislative measures that would expand the pool of eligible-to-naturalize immigrants. Second, it identifies three underlying factors – financial resources, English language proficiency, and education – that strongly influence naturalization rates. It argues that these factors must be addressed, in large part, outside of and prior to the naturalization process. In addition, it provides detailed estimates of populations with large eligible-to-naturalize numbers, populations that naturalize at low rates, and populations with increasing naturalization rates. It argues that the administration’s immigration strategy should prioritize all three groups for naturalization. The paper endorses the provisions of the US Citizenship Act that would place undocumented and temporary residents on a path to permanent residence and citizenship, would reduce family- and employment-based visa backlogs, and would eliminate disincentives and barriers to permanent residence. It supports the Biden-Harris administration’s early executive actions and proposes additional measures to increase access to permanent residence and naturalization. It also endorses and seeks to inform the administration’s plan to improve and expedite the naturalization process and to promote naturalization....