CMS Essays
CMS Essays are timely, long-form articles on international migration, refugee protection, and immigrant integration, well-being and empowerment. They seek to inform and increase understanding of pressing scholarly and public policy issues. Because they address fast-moving public debates and dialogues, CMS posts essays without going through a formal peer-review process.
CMS Essays
Donald Kerwin
Real Needs, Not Fictitious Crises Account for the Situation at US-Mexico Border
The number of unaccompanied children and asylum-seekers crossing the US-Mexico border in search of protection has increased in recent weeks. The former president, his acolytes, and both extremist and mainstream media have characterized this situation as a “border crisis,” a self-inflicted wound by the Biden administration, and even a failure of US asylum policy. It is none of these things. Rather, it is a response to compounding pressures, most prominently the previous administration’s evisceration of US asylum and anti-trafficking policies and procedures, and the failure to address the conditions that are displacing residents of the Northern Triangle states of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras), as well as Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and other countries. In Central America, these conditions include:
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Hawthorne Smith, Ph.D.
How the Asylum Backlog Affects Torture Survivors and What the Biden Administration Can Do to Fix It
One of the most pernicious aspects of the changes to the asylum processes promulgated under the Trump administration is substituting the first-in, first-out (FIFO) policy for the last-in, first-out (LIFO) one. Individuals who had already been waiting for years for an asylum interview have to wait even longer. Until they obtain asylum, individuals cannot petition for visas for their immediate relatives who are often still facing danger. In many ways, this is the “other family separation” crisis, but it remains unseen by most policy makers and the general public.
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Susan Martin
How President Biden Can Make His Commitment to Refugees a Reality
In an Executive Order signed on February 3, 2021, President Joe Biden promised a thorough review of the US refugee admissions program as well as the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) under which Afghans and Iraqis endangered by their association with the US government are admitted. He also announced that the United States will resettle 125,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2022 and consult with Congress to increase this year’s admissions quota as a down payment. These promises offer hope to thousands of refugees who have been awaiting resettlement, often for years and still more often in precarious settings. Fulfilling this promise will not come easily, however. The new administration has scant time to rebuild a program that the Trump administration sought to destroy.
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George Wolfe
Where Are Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees Going? An Analysis of Legal and Social Contexts in Receiving Countries
I. Executive Summary Almost 5.5 million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2014, when the nation’s population was 30.1 million (Response 4 Venezuela (“R4V”) Platform 2020).[1] The unprecedented flow of Venezuelans has put “further pressure on regional hosts Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, where rising restrictions and xenophobia are already making......
Janelle L. Moore
The Risk, Care, and Imagination of Moral Agency: Two Women’s Narratives of Life After Refugee Resettlement
Nadra and Ghazel first came to North America as refugees. Today, they participate in their communities as mothers, teachers, learners, and leaders. Although much of the literature on refugee resettlement focuses on refugee-serving agencies, refugee women can have a profound impact on fellow refugees in their new home communities. Interviews from 2017 and 2019 with Nadra and Ghazel about their post-resettlement experiences reveal insight into both the nature and effects of moral agency under constraint. The constraints refugee women encounter in the United States operate like a downward-turning spiral; with each twist of the “spiral,” a new obstacle appears that makes overcoming subsequent obstacles all the more daunting. However, Nadra’s and Ghazel’s narratives indicate that acts of moral agency—characterized by hopeful risk, holistic care, and future-oriented imagination—can reverse the direction of the spiral by lowering barriers to integration and expanding opportunities for refugee women, their families, and their communities to thrive.
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Susan Martin
Rebuilding the US Refugee Resettlement Program
This paper offers an historic review of the US refugee resettlement program. It spans the colonial era, to the establishment of the first distinct US admissions policies for persons fleeing persecution in 1917, to the creation of the formal US Refugee Admissions Program in 1980, and to the Trump administrations’ denigration of and attempts to eviscerate the program. It proposes ways that a new administration can rebuild this crucially important program and put it on more secure footing. In particular, it recommends that a new administration:
- Reframe the discourse on refugee resettlement to emphasize its central importance to the nation’s identity and the way it serves the national interest.
- Rebuild the capacity of the federal government to administer the program and the badly depleted community-based resettlement infrastructure that is central to the program’s success.
- Hold emergency consultations with Congress to increase refugee admissions in Fiscal Year 2021, and consult soon after the inauguration with international, state and local, and non-governmental partners to plan FY 2022 resettlement goals, including a robust admissions ceiling and budget.
- Reform and reinvigorate federal consultations with states and localities to ensure their receptivity, capacity and support for refugees, and eliminate the current veto power of states and municipalities over resettlement in their jurisdictions.
- Explore legislative fixes to the refugee admissions process and attempt to depoliticize the process by setting a “normal flow level” that does not require an annual Presidential determination.
- Join the Global Compact on Refugees, which seeks to expand the availability of durable solutions for refugees, and encourage other nations to follow the U.S. example of resettling larger numbers of refugees.
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Daniel E. Martínez, Josiah Heyman, and Jeremy Slack
Border Enforcement Developments Since 1993 and How to Change CBP
Enforcement along the US-Mexico border has intensified significantly since the early 1990s. Social scientists have documented several consequences of border militarization, including increased border-crosser deaths, the killing of more than 110 people by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents over the past decade, and expanded ethno-racial profiling in southwestern communities by immigration authorities. Less attention has been paid to the pervasive and routine mistreatment migrants experience on a daily basis in CBP custody.
This paper traces major developments in border enforcement to three notable initiatives: the “prevention-through-deterrence” strategy, the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Consequence Delivery System, initiated in 2011. Despite the massive buildup in enforcement, CBP has operated with little transparency and accountability to the detriment of migrants. The paper provides an overview of the findings of nongovernmental organizations and social scientists regarding migrant mistreatment while in CBP custody. It then highlights important shifts in migration patterns over the past decade, as well as changes in border enforcement efforts during the Trump administration. It discusses how these transformations affect migrants’ everyday encounters with CBP officials.
The paper concludes by providing specific recommendations for improving CBP conduct. Its core theme is the need to emphasize and inculcate lessons of appropriate police behavior, civil rights, and civil liberties in training and recruiting agents and in setting responsibilities of supervisors and administrators. It offers recommendations regarding important but underrecognized issues, including ending the use of CBP agents/officers as Asylum Officers, as well as better-known issues such as militarization and the border wall.
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Donald Kerwin
Strengthening the US Immigration System through Legal Orientation, Screening and Representation: Recommendations for a New Administration
This paper highlights the importance of legal orientation, screening, and representation to the US immigration system. It proposes that a new administration facilitate legal representation in order to establish a fairer and more efficient removal adjudication system and to place more immigrants on a path to permanent residence and citizenship. As is well-documented, legal assistance can:
- Improve the ability of immigrants to identify and articulate their claims in removal proceedings and produce better-informed case outcomes.
- Increase the efficiency and contribute to the integrity of the removal adjudication system.
- Lead to better-prepared applications for immigration benefits, and thus a more just and efficient legal immigration system.
- Place more non-citizens on a path to permanent residence and naturalization by identifying their potential eligibility for immigration benefits or relief, and, in some cases, their existing US citizenship.
Legal representation and expertise can also contribute to resolving some of the substantial problems that afflict the US immigration system, such as lengthy court and asylum backlogs. In addition, it can identify and help to correct legal and factual errors by immigration adjudicators, and abuses by enforcement officers and private contractors.
The paper’s first section describes federal legal orientation and assistance programs for non-citizens in removal proceedings. The second section discusses the need for large-scale legal screening and representation of US undocumented residents, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries. Its third section examines the proliferation of universal representation programs—supported by states, localities, and private funders—for non-citizens in removal proceedings before an immigration judge, and in summary removal processes administered by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The paper concludes with a series of administrative measures that a new administration could take in its first year to strengthen and expand legal representation. It also outlines longer-term policy recommendations that would require legislation.
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Roberto Suro and Hannah Findling
State and Local Aid for Immigrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Innovating Inclusion
State and local governments have exercised unusual powers since the early days of the Coronavirus lockdowns, ordering businesses to open and close, the wearing of masks and much else. Amidst it all, renewed activism on immigration issues in some parts of the country has produced measures that offer emergency economic relief and access to health care for immigrants left out of federal programs, especially the undocumented. In other cases, governments have facilitated employment by immigrants considered “essential” from surgeons to farmworkers.
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Jenifer Wolf-Williams
Perspectives on Asylum Policy: Going to the Borderlands and Coming to Terms with US History, Social Sentiment, and Hope
It was not a typical Sunday morning. Most Sundays in our White, suburban, upper middle class church do not include open conversations about immigration. But that week, a few of us attained permission to place an information table in the foyer. We displayed simplified graphs of tangled processes, stark images......
Briana Nichols
US and Guatemalan Migration-Related Pandemic Policies: A View from Guatemala
The US response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been to fortify migration polices that violate the human rights of migrants. Beyond suspending hearings for asylum-seekers subject to the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), the US government has ordered the rapid repatriation of apprehended migrants, including asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors, has continued deportation proceedings and removals, and has suspended many legal migration processes. On April 10, the administration asserted its right, resulting from the “profound and unique public health risks posed by the novel (new) coronavirus” to impose visa sanctions on countries that deny or delay “the acceptance of aliens who are citizens, subjects, nationals or residents of that country” that impede the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) response to the pandemic. Expulsions, removals, and denial of access to asylum have become central to the US pandemic response, without the US offering evidence connecting the spread of the virus to persons arriving at US land borders. The situation unfolding in Guatemala is particularly illustrative.
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Omar al-Muqdad
“There Is No Safe Place”: Displacement and Flight from Idlib
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a regular blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection, religious persecution, and US refugee and immigration policies. Mr. al-Muqdad’s work has been featured by the BBC, CNN, and in many other media outlets. Resettled in the United States in 2012, Mr. al-Muqdad became a US citizen in Spring 2018. CMS features this series in its weekly Migration Update and on its website.
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Omar al-Muqdad
The Turkish Invasion in Northeast Syria Has Led to Large-Scale Displacement and the Fate of ISIS Fighters Remains Uncertain
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a regular blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection, religious persecution, and US refugee and immigration policies. Mr. al-Muqdad’s work has been featured by the BBC, CNN, and in many other media outlets. Resettled in the United States in 2012, Mr. al-Muqdad became a US citizen in Spring 2018. CMS features this series in its weekly Migration Update and on its website.
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Omar al-Muqdad
The Situation of Displaced Persons in Northeast Syria and Syrian Refugees in Turkey Rapidly Deteriorates
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a regular blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection, religious persecution, and US refugee and immigration policies. Mr. al-Muqdad’s work has been featured by the BBC, CNN, and in many other media outlets. Resettled in the United States in 2012, Mr. al-Muqdad became a US citizen in Spring 2018. CMS features this series in its weekly Migration Update and on its website.
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Darcy Hirsh
Impressions and Reflections on My First Experience of the US-Mexico Border
I had the privilege of participating in a recent trip to the Arizona-Mexico border to learn about conditions for migrants. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the national network hub of 125 Jewish Community Relations Councils around the country and 17 national Jewish agencies, led the delegation of Jewish community......
Omar al-Muqdad
What We Feared Would Happen to Returning Syrian Refugees Has Come to Pass
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a regular blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection, religious persecution, and US refugee and immigration policies. Mr. al-Muqdad’s work has been featured by the BBC, CNN, and in many other media outlets. Resettled in the United States in 2012, Mr. al-Muqdad became a US citizen in Spring 2018. CMS features this series in its weekly Migration Update and on its website.
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Omar al-Muqdad
The Honeymoon between Syrian Refugees and the Erdogan Government Has Ended
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a regular blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection, religious persecution, and US refugee and immigration policies. Mr. al-Muqdad’s work has been featured by the BBC, CNN, and in many other media outlets. Resettled in the United States in 2012, Mr. al-Muqdad became a US citizen in Spring 2018. CMS features this series in its weekly Migration Update and on its website.
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Susan Martin
Deterrence without Protection of Asylum Seekers
On July 16, the Trump Administration issued a new rule that would significantly reduce the number of persons granted asylum in the United States. It bars consideration of asylum applications from those who transit through countries (other than their own) before attempting to cross the US southern border. In announcing......
Donald Kerwin
What’s Less Patriotic Than Abandonment of the US Refugee Protection Program?
July 19, 2019 This week, the Trump administration has descended to a new level of contempt for the US refugee protection system. From its very first days in office when it evoked specious national security concerns to suspend the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 120 days and indefinitely bar......
Josiah Heyman, Jeremy Slack, and Daniel E. Martínez
Why Border Patrol Agents and CBP Officers Should Not Serve as Asylum Officers
United States Border Patrol agent Matthew Bowen allegedly hit an undocumented migrant with his truck in November 2017. In preparation for trial, federal prosecutors revealed that Bowen had a history of making derogatory statements about migrants in text messages, including calling them “disgusting subhuman shit unworthy of being kindling for......
Omar al-Muqdad
Refugees Have Few Options, We Have a Lot More
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a regular blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection, religious persecution, and US refugee and immigration policies. Mr. al-Muqdad’s work has been featured by the BBC, CNN, and in many other media outlets. Resettled in the United States in 2012, Mr. al-Muqdad became a US citizen in Spring 2018. CMS features this series in its weekly Migration Update and on its website.
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Donald Kerwin and Robert Warren
Does the United States Need to Invest More in Border Enforcement?
Despite the largest immigration enforcement budget in US history, the Border Patrol is set to apprehend the highest number of border crossers in more than a decade. This essay argues that the administration’s enforcement-only approach cannot successfully address this humanitarian crisis, and does not deserve any additional funding. Instead, the administration should respond to the conditions driving Central American and Venezuelan asylum seekers, provide protection for those fleeing violence and other impossible conditions, and create a strong, well-resourced US asylum system.
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Robert Warren
Overstays Exceeded Illegal Border Crossers after 2010 Because Illegal Entries Dropped to Their Lowest Level in Decades
This essay by CMS Senior Fellow Robert Warren examines the number of nonimmigrants who overstayed their visas to the United States. It demonstrates that the number of visa overstays has not spiked, but has remained in the 200,000 to 400,000 range since 2000. Moreover, visa overstays leave the undocumented population at significant rates, including through emigration and adjustment to lawful permanent resident status. Of those who overstayed their non-immigrant visas in 2000, less than one-half were living in the United States as undocumented residents in 2017.
Hon. Dana Leigh Marks
Reflections on a 40-Year Career as an Immigration Lawyer and Judge
Honorable Dana Leigh Marks, President Emeritus of the National Association of Immigration Judges, reflects on her 40-year career as an immigration lawyer and judge.
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Omar al-Muqdad
US Admissions Ban Endangers and Separates Families
Robert Warren
Sharp Multiyear Decline in Undocumented Immigration Suggests Progress at US-Mexico Border, Not a National Emergency
Introduction This paper combines data from two reports[1] by the Center for Migration Studies (CMS) with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statistics on apprehensions, adjustment of status, and removals, to illustrate major trends in undocumented immigration to the United States since 1990. It shows that the undocumented population and undocumented......
Ingrid V. Eagly
Access to Counsel and the Legacy of Juan Osuna
In this essay, Ingrid V. Eagly, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, describes Juan Osuna’s many contributions to access to justice for immigrants. Osuna served on the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and then as director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). Eagly recounts his efforts to call attention to the need for legal representation. In particular, she details Osuna’s support for the federally funded Legal Orientation Program (LOP), which educates immigrants on their rights and provides them with self-help trainings and referrals to pro bono counsel. She also highlights Osuna’s work to secure counsel for particularly vulnerable migrants, including unaccompanied minors. Eagly’s essay is the latest contribution to a CMS series on the issues to which Osuna devoted his professional life.
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Kathryn Finley
Access to Justice in a Climate of Fear: New Hurdles and Barriers for Survivors of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence
Kathryn Finley, managing attorney for the Tahirih Justice Center’s greater Washington, DC office, writes on the particularly high hurdles and barriers faced by immigrant survivors of violence in accessing the US legal system. This paper relies on examples gathered from Tahirih Justice Center’s direct work with immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. It also reviews the dynamics of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking for immigrant victims, and the immigration remedies available to victims of these crimes. Additionally, this paper explores the detrimental impact of the administration’s enforcement initiatives on immigrant victims of crime and on public safety.
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Rená Cutlip-Mason
Moving Away from Crisis Management: How the United States Can Strengthen Its Response to Large-Scale Migration Flows
This paper reviews the response of the US government to the growth in migration from Central America’s Northern Triangle states from 2011 to 2016. It also critiques the extreme border policies of the Trump administration, while recognizing that the failure of previous administrations to enact strategic, long-term changes in the US immigration system laid the groundwork for these policies. Finally, it reviews some of the lessons learned during the Obama administration on the need for a resilient and reformed immigration system.
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Robert Warren
US Undocumented Population Continued to Fall from 2016 to 2017, and Visa Overstays Significantly Exceeded Illegal Crossings for the Seventh Consecutive Year
This report presents estimates of the US undocumented population for 2017 derived by the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). It focuses on the steep decline in the undocumented population from Mexico since 2010. While the president has focused the nation’s attention on the border wall, half a million[1] US undocumented residents from Mexico left[2] the undocumented population in 2016 alone, more than three times the number that arrived that year, leading to an overall decrease of nearly 400,000 undocumented residents from Mexico from 2016 to 2017. From 2010 to 2017, the undocumented population from Mexico fell by a remarkable 1.3 million.
For the past 10 years, the primary mode of entry to the undocumented population has been to overstay temporary visas. This report provides estimates of the number of noncitizens who overstayed temporary visas and those who entered without inspection (EWIs) in 2016 by the top five countries of origin.
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Omar al-Muqdad
For Syrian refugees, another year has gone by, but most see no sign of hope on the horizon
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a bi-monthly blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection,......
Jeremy Slack, Daniel E. Martínez, and Josiah Heyman
Immigration Authorities Systematically Deny Medical Care for Migrants Who Speak Indigenous Languages
The death of seven year-old Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin in December of 2018 while in US Border Patrol custody has led to outrage, frustration, and a host of unanswered questions. This study — which consists of more than 1,100 post-deportation surveys with unauthorized Mexican migrants — suggests that the denial of medical attention to migrants in US custody is a widespread and systemic problem, and one that appears to affect indigenous language speakers disproportionately....
Jill E. Family
No Agency Adjudication?
Jill E. Family, Commonwealth Professor of Law and Government and Director of the Law and Government Institute at Widener Law Commonwealth, highlights the lack of independence of immigration agency adjudicators (i.e., immigration judges and Board of Immigration Appeals members) to interpret and apply immigration law. She proposes moving removal adjudication to an Article I court, in order to create a system with greater independence and credibility. An Article I court would focus on adjudication only and would not be a part of the Department of Justice, which focuses on law enforcement. ...
Robert Barsky
The Legal Responsibilities of the United States Towards Asylum Seekers
Robert Barsky, Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University, examines the legal responsibilities of the United States towards asylum seekers, on the 50th anniversary of the US's accession to the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees....
Kevin Appleby
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration: The Implementation Phase
On July 13, 2018, Ambassadors Juan José Gómez Camacho of Mexico and Jürg Lauber of Switzerland, the skilled co-facilitators for the consultation and negotiation phases of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (“GCM,” or “the Compact”), gaveled the GCM negotiations to a close, signaling the final draft of the document. Assuming the document is adopted in Marrakech, Morocco in December, Kevin Appleby, CMS's senior director of international migration policy, writes about the most difficult phase of the process - the GCM's implementation. ...
Omar al-Muqdad
Nationalism in an Era of Record Migration
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a bi-monthly blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection,......
Susan Martin
FY 2019 Ceiling on US Refugee Resettlement: Bad Policy, Faulty Logic
On September 17, 2018, the Trump administration announced that the ceiling on refugee admissions in fiscal year (FY) 2019 (October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019) will be 30,000 — the smallest since passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. In explaining the cut, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated:......
Omar al-Muqdad
Russian-US Repatriation Plan Not Supported by Syrian Refugees
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – discusses the agreement entered into by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump to repatriate Syrian refugees. ...
Mike Nicholson
The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Immigrants’ Health and Entrepreneurship
This paper highlights the potential of faith-based organizations to improve the health and work outcomes of vulnerable migrants. First, the paper describes how faith-based organizations expand health care to underserved populations and play a vital role in building trust between healthcare providers and migrant communities. Next, the paper describes obstacles to migrant employment and explains how faith-based organizations are promoting migrant entrepreneurship through training, referrals, and targeted microloans, among other services. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of how the international community might support faith-based organizations’ efforts in these areas. In particular, the Global Compact on Migration should recognize faith-based organizations’ unique resources and credibility among vulnerable migrant populations. It should also emphasize the potential for productive cooperation between international organizations and faith-based organizations in the areas of migrant health care and entrepreneurship....
Laurie Carafone
Meeting the Needs of Women and Girl Migrants and Refugees in the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework: The Unique Role of Faith-Based Organizations
This paper illustrates the unique role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in supporting vulnerable women and girl migrants and refugees and provides frameworks for FBOs in taking action. First, it outlines the major challenges that women and girl migrants and refugees face in their countries of origin as well as in transit, reception, and destination countries. Then, it argues that FBOs can play a unique and vital role in supporting vulnerable women and girl migrants and refugees due to their fluidity among stakeholders, their ability to distance themselves from the power dynamics of humanitarian aid, and their long-term and grounded presence. It provides the following approaches for FBOs in supporting vulnerable women and girl migrants and refugees: 1) addressing root causes through their presence in countries of origin, 2) opening the hearts and minds of people in host communities, 3) using the moral authority of faith leadership to subvert gender paradigms and make women and girls leaders and teachers. ...
Linda Rabben
Protecting Families and Facilitating Their Integration
“Our shared response may be articulated by four verbs: welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating migrants and refugees.” – Pope Francis I, August 2017 Who Are the Migrants? Where Do They Come From? Where Are They Going? Individuals and families around the world flee from their homes every day because of......
Josiah Heyman, Jeremy Slack
Blockading Asylum Seekers at Ports of Entry at the US-Mexico Border Puts Them at Increased Risk of Exploitation, Violence, and Death
Although the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has insisted that asylum-seekers pass through ports-of-entry (POEs), rather than between them, it has denied potential non-Mexican asylum seekers access to the inspection area at POEs, and left them stranded in Mexico. This essay examines the implications of the turn away approach CBP has adopted in responding to those seeking asylum at POEs on the international boundary line....
Omar al-Muqdad
My Life as a Refugee
Omar al-Muqdad describes the circumstances in his home country of Syria that led to him becoming a refugee, and the kindness he encountered when resettled in the United States....
Omar al-Muqdad
Religious Persecution and the US Refugee Program under the Trump Administration
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a bi-monthly blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection,......
Kevin Appleby
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration: Will It Live Up to Its Name?
The member states of the United Nations — absent the United States — have begun their work on producing a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (“the Compact”), an international agreement that would establish a multilateral framework for migration governance. The Compact, as reflected in the Revision 1......
Omar al-Muqdad
Ending the Syrian Refugee Crisis Will Take Far More Than Retaliatory Bombings
Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – writes a bi-monthly blog for CMS titled, “Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection.” This series covers the Syrian Civil War, the experiences of Syria’s immense and far-flung refugee population, the global crisis in refugee protection,......
Pietro Demurtas, Mattia Vitiello, Marco Accorinti, Aldo Skoda, and Carola Perillo
In Search of Protection: Unaccompanied Minors in Italy
This paper examines the issue of unaccompanied minors arriving in Italy and how Italy has responded to their need for protection. It contains five complementary sections. Section 1 provides a statistical overview of unaccompanied minors in Italy between 2014 and 2017. In particular, it discusses unaccompanied minors who request political asylum, those in government reception facilities who do not, and those who have left reception centers without seeking asylum and have become “untraceable.” The second section addresses why unaccompanied minors leave their countries of origin and how they transit to Italy and elsewhere. This section highlights the role of families in the decision to migrate and the migration process. It distinguishes unaccompanied minors who largely seek to “escape from” particular conditions from other migrants who are in search of a better life for themselves and their families. The third section covers Italian reception policies and policymaking challenges, with a particular focus on implementation of Italy’s System for the Protection of Asylum Seekers and Refugees. The section argues for reception procedures and interventions that are tailored to the particular vulnerabilities and needs of unaccompanied minors. Section 4 offers a psychosocial analysis of the phenomenon of unaccompanied child migration. It describes strategies to build the competencies, sense of agency, and resilience of unaccompanied minors. The final section details the demands and requirements of acting in the “best interests” of unaccompanied minors. It ends by setting forth minimum principles of protection for unaccompanied minors, which should inform both the Global Compact on Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees....
Sergio Carciotto
The Regularization of Zimbabwean Migrants: A Case of Permanent Temporariness
In this essay, Sergio Carciotto of the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) examines South Africa’s temporary labor migration laws and how they apply to migrant workers from Zimbabwe. Carciotto makes the case that low-skilled workers, such as Zimbabweans, are not provided the benefits that high-skilled workers receive, particularly the opportunity to become permanent residents. As such, they are without leverage in the workplace and are subject to exploitation. Carciotto concludes that low-skilled workers who enter on a temporary basis should be allowed to apply for permanent residency after a certain time, in order to avoid situations of indentured servitude. In other words, the longer a worker remains, “the stronger their claim to full membership in society and to the enjoyment of the same rights as citizens.” He also states that such a policy should be included in the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, currently being negotiated by United Nations member states.
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Graziano Batistella, c.s.
Return Migration: A Conceptual and Policy Framework
This paper on return migration is the first in a series from the Scalabrini Migration Study Centers, a worldwide network of think-tanks on international migration, on different migration issues and policy ideas that should inform the development and implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration. This paper is authored by Graziano Batistella, c.s., who directs the Scalabrini Migration Center in the Philippines. It offers a conceptual framework for analyzing return migration and developing appropriate policies in response. It identifies a continuum of types of return based on the time of return and the decision to return. These are: “return of achievement,” “return of completion,” “return of setback,” and “return of crisis (forced return).” The paper recommends particular policies – which would benefit migrants and their communities of origin – in response to each of these types of return. It urges that the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration and the Global Compact for Refugees not treat return as “an act that simply concludes migration,” but one that requires effective policies to protect and ensure the well-being of migrants, to facilitate their reintegration, and to maximize their contributions.
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Robert Warren
The US Undocumented Population Fell Sharply During the Obama Era: Estimates for 2016
This report shows estimates of the undocumented population residing in the United States in 2016, by country of origin and state of residence. Previous CMS reports have documented the long-term change from rapid population growth in the 1990s, to single-digit rates of growth in 2000 to 2010. This report shows continued declines in the population from most countries and in most states since 2010....
Susan F. Martin
Trump’s Misuse of Barbara Jordan’s Legacy on Immigration
After years of talking about a broken immigration system, President Trump offered a framework for immigration reform in his State of the Union address. In the lead-up to the address, the White House issued a statement on January 17 honoring Barbara Jordan, the former Chair of the US Commission on......
Robert Warren
The Legally Resident Foreign-born Population Has the Same Percentage of Skilled Workers as the US-Born Native Population
Overview In August 2017, the White House issued a fact sheet announcing President Donald J. Trump’s support for the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act that would “prioritize immigrants based on the skills they bring to our Nation.”[1] It stated, in part: For decades, low-skilled and unskilled......
David J. Trimbach and Nicole Reiz
Unmaking Citizens: The Expansion of Citizenship Revocation in Response to Terrorism
Introduction “They hold us in contempt. They hold our values in contempt. They hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt. They hold our democracy, the means by which we will make our decision tonight, in contempt. And what we know about fascists is that they need to be......
Omar al-Muqdad
Refugees in Lebanon: Geopolitics and Unmet Human Needs
Lebanon experienced a massive influx of Syrian refugees, overstretching the country's resources and increasing political tensions. While the number of registered Syrian refugees has reportedly decreased, Omar al-Muqdad writes that the world's response is failing to meeting the needs of those who remain. He highlights the story of Um Hussein, a 62-year-old refugee from Homs, and her family's struggle to survive....
Donald Kerwin
The Besieged US Refugee Protection System: Why Temporary Protected Status Matters
This essay examines and challenges the Trump administration’s recent changes to US immigration policy, particularly the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain countries such as Haiti and Nicaragua. According to author Donald Kerwin, CMS’s executive director, “TPS represents a pillar of the besieged US refugee protection system because it honors, however imperfectly, the well-established responsibility of states to offer safe haven to persons who would be endangered if returned to their home countries.” However, the Trump administration has sought to “make America great again” by abandoning a central feature of the American identity – its openness to the world’s oppressed, persecuted, and imperiled.
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Omar al-Muqdad
The Syrian Refugee Experience: A Tormented Journey into the Unknown
In the first post of ‘Dispatches from the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection,’ Omar al-Muqdad – a prominent journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former Syrian refugee – discusses the conflicts and conditions in Syria forcing Syrians to make desperate, limited choices.
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Kimball Baker
The Worker/Immigrant Link: America’s Driving Force
Kimball Baker (author of “Go to the Worker”: America’s Labor Apostles) examines the role of immigrants in America’s labor unions and worker centers.
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Graziano Battistella
From Invisibility to Recognition: Reflections on the Conditions of Migrants in Our Society
There is no scarcity of images or stories to introduce us to the topic. The world of relentless economic growth and profound transformation in the production of economic value is also the world that increasingly marginalizes millions of people or does not allow them to participate in the progress which......
Kimball Baker
Justice Junction in the Heartland: A Labor Day Reflection on the Catholic Church’s Commitment to Immigrant Justice, Then and Now
In 1828, an immigrant to America, young Italian Samuel Mazzuchelli, braved the challenges of the US frontier. He became a Dominican priest and traveled widely throughout the Midwest, ministering first to Native Americans and fur trappers, then to the Irish lead miners of the Upper Mississippi Valley. In 1847, he......
Peter J. Spiro
Citizenship after Trump
This essay examines citizenship policy under the Trump presidency....
Donald Kerwin
Pope Francis, Migration, and the Journey to Human Development and Peace
Donald Kerwin, CMS’s Executive Director, provides an overview of the VI International Forum on Migration and Peace, organized by the Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN) in late February 2017 in Rome, Italy....
Dario Dzananovic
European Courts and Citizens Struggle to do “What’s Right” Amidst Reactionary Migration Law and Policy
This essay examines four European cases highlighting how individual citizens and courts of European Union member states have dealt with situations involving a conflict between doing “what’s right” and “what’s legal.” ...
Donald Kerwin
National Identity and 3 of the Most Damaging Directives in President Trump’s Executive Orders on Immigration and Refugees
Donald Kerwin, CMS’ executive director, examines President Donald Trump’s “shock and awe” strategy in the forms of multiple executive orders on immigration and refugees. Kerwin argues that these executive orders create three major risks: (1) Many of the most damaging provisions will evade scrutiny in the glare of high profile issues such as building an unnecessary and unsustainable 2,000 mile border wall; (2) The cynical rationale for the orders (security and safety) will actually stick, if repeated enough times; and (3) Some portion of President Trump’s agenda may actually be implemented at permanent cost to our nation’s well-being, core values, and identity. ...
Fiona Adamson
Trump’s Executive Orders on Migration and Security: Policy Incompetence, Political Theater or Ideological Pivot?
This essay examines the possible motives behind Trump’s executive orders related to immigrants and refugees. The author considers whether the orders were issued to address policy gaps, whether they are merely political theater to appease Trump’s voter base, and/or whether they serve a broader anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ethno-nationalist agenda. ...
Donald Kerwin
The Catholic Church’s Commitment to Immigrants and Refugees at the Dawn of the Trump Era
Donald Kerwin, CMS' Executive Director, reflects on the 2016 Catholic Immigrant Integration Initiative Conference and the Catholic Church's commitment to migrants and refugees as President Trump takes offices....
Enzo Rossi, Paolo Iafrate
The EU Agreement with Turkey: Does it Jeopardize Refugees’ Rights?
On March 7, 2016, the European Union (EU) and Turkey drew up an agreement for cooperation with the aim of reducing the flow of migrants and refugees — mostly Syrian — crossing the Aegean Sea and taking the Balkan route to arrive in Europe. This essay discusses how the EU-Turkey agreement violates the body of rights and obligations that apply to all EU member states and the international conventions regarding asylum. ...
John W. Harbeson
Mainstreaming Involuntary Migration in Development Policies
This essay addresses the issue of how best to insert migration concerns into development planning, as a part of a process of thinking more broadly about US migration policies and interests....
Donald Kerwin
A Faith-Based Reflection on the Global Crisis in Refugee Protection
This essay offers a reflection on the global crisis in refugee protection from a faith perspective at a time of great uncertainty regarding the US and global response to refugees....
Stephanie L. Canizales
Support and Setback: Catholic Churches and the Adaptation of Unaccompanied Guatemalan Maya Youth in Los Angeles
Stephanie L. Canizales, a PhD Candidate at the University of Southern California, examines the role of religion and religious institutions in the adaptation of unaccompanied Central American youth in Los Angeles....
Robert Warren
New Data and Analysis Confirms Stable Growth in Immigration
This report reviews the latest information available about the growth of the foreign-born population and provides information about recently arrived temporary residents in the population. The report finds that foreign-born population growth, legal and undocumented, as well as new arrivals, have remained fairly stable over the past few years....
Robert Warren
Surge in Immigration in 2014 and 2015? The Evidence Remains Illusory
Robert Warren, CMS’s Senior Visiting Fellow, conducts a detailed analysis of immigration to the United States in 2014 and 2015, refuting claims of a surge in undocumented immigration....
Alan M. Kraut
Nativism, An American Perennial
This essay provides a historical analysis of the nativist rhetoric that has prevailed in American politics, and which became a prominent theme in American political discourse during the 2016 presidential campaign. ...
Donald Kerwin
Treating Syrian Refugees as a National Security Threat: Do the Means Fit the End?
In this essay, Donald Kerwin, CMS’ executive director, seeks to move the nation’s debate on the twin imperatives of national security and refugee protection beyond the current politically-charged and misguided dialogue on Syrian refugees....
Alan M. Kraut
“Make America Great Again”… Again?
In this essay, Alan M. Kraut, University Professor of History at American University, traces the origin of the “Make America Great Again” slogan to nativists of the early 20th century....
Leonir Chiarello
The Emergence and Evolution of the Concepts of Human Rights and Human Security
This essay provides a historical analysis on the concept of human security. The author examines how religious traditions and schools of thought converged and developed an evolving consciousness of human rights and human security. ...
Robert Warren
The Estimated Undocumented Population is 11 Million. How Do We Know?
The purpose of this report is to briefly describe the origin of the widely reported estimate of 11 million and to show why claims of much higher numbers are not credible. Thus the author addresses two questions (1) how was the 11 million numbers derived? (2) could the actual number be 15, 20, or even 30 million? The author provides a simple framework for computing the estimate of 11 million and the potential range of error around each component of the estimate. ...
Robert Warren
A New Upsurge in Unauthorized Immigration from Mexico Not Likely
On August 13, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a report based on data collected in the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). The report, available at http://cis.org/Immigrant-Population-Hits-Record-Second-Quarter-2015, stated: “After falling or growing little in recent years, the number of Mexican immigrants again seems to be growing significantly.” The......
Mark Noferi
A Humane Approach Can Work: The Effectiveness of Alternatives to Detention for Asylum Seekers
This report reviews emerging research on the release of asylum seekers from detention, including the impact of various forms of alternatives to detention (ATD), summarizes the primary harms caused by immigration detention, and argues that releasing asylum seekers (on alternatives as needed) and affording legal assistance can protect the rights of asylum seekers and facilitate compliance with proceedings and legitimate removals, at far less human and financial cost than detention. ...
Tom K. Wong
Reaching Undocumented Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States
This white paper identifies areas of need when it comes to outreach targeted at undocumented Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Using an innovative method to estimate the characteristics of the undocumented population, this paper provides a national overview of the undocumented AAPI population, a state-by-state comparison of aggregate estimates, and a state-by-state comparison by national origin group, focusing on China, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Korea. This paper also uses factor analysis to identify 50 areas of need where the undocumented AAPI population in a place is characterized by low English language use, high poverty rates, and low educational attainment. This white paper is part of a larger collaborative project on the undocumented AAPI population. ...
Donald Kerwin
International Migration, Human Dignity, and the Challenge of Sovereignty
Address delivered at the 5th International Forum on Migration and Peace in Berlin, Germany....
Donald Kerwin
Mainstreaming Migration: The Merits and Potential of the Migration and Development Framework
Donald Kerwin, Executive Director for the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), delivered this address at a joint conference entitled, "Mainstreaming Migration into Development Planning: Assessing the Evidence, Continuing the Dialogue," co-hosted by CMS and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). ...