Democratizing Data
CMS’s Democratizing Data Initiative makes demographic data on immigrants accessible to a wide range of users. Launched in 2013, the project provides estimates on the size and characteristics of the US unauthorized and naturalization-eligible populations at national, state and sub-state levels. The initiative offers this information through interactive data tools, tables, charts and groundbreaking reports. CMS data have been broadly used by scholars, researchers, government officials, and service-providers in crafting, implementing, and evaluating programs that serve noncitizens.
Following a review of its data-sharing policies in July 2017, CMS will no longer make available its underlying ACS data or respond to requests for sub-state level information about the US unauthorized population.
Tools and Maps
This data tool serves as a complement to a research project conducted by CMS, entitled “Mapping Key Determinants of Immigrants’ Health in Brooklyn and Queens.” It is intended to allow healthcare providers, government agencies, and non-profit immigrant-serving entities, including faith-based organizations, to identify and potentially meet gaps in services to immigrant populations, particularly healthcare, housing, legal, educational, work-related, and other services. Access the data tool at cmsny.org/immigrant-health-nyc/.
An innovative, interactive database providing detailed information about US unauthorized residents and immigrants eligible to naturalize at the national and state levels. Now Available at data.cmsny.org.
Publications
Vicky Virgin and Robert Warren
Mapping Key Determinants of Immigrants’ Health in Brooklyn and Queens
This study maps the determinants of immigrant health in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. In doing so, it seeks to enable healthcare providers, government agencies, and non-profit immigrant-serving entities – including faith-based entities – to identify gaps in their services to immigrant populations, and to help meet the need – healthcare and other – of diverse immigrant communities at heightened risk of adverse health outcomes.
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Donald Kerwin and Robert Warren
US Foreign-Born Workers in the Global Pandemic: Essential and Marginalized
This article provides detailed estimates of foreign-born (immigrant) workers in the United States who are employed in “essential critical infrastructure” sectors, as defined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the US Department of Homeland Security. Building on earlier work by the Center for Migration Studies, the article offers exhaustive estimates on essential workers on a national level, by state, for large metropolitan statistical areas, and for smaller communities that heavily rely on immigrant labor. It also reports on these workers by job sector; immigration status; eligibility for tax rebates under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act); and other characteristics.
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Donald Kerwin, Mike Nicholson, Daniela Alulema, Robert Warren
US Foreign-Born Essential Workers by Status and State, and the Global Pandemic
This paper provides comprehensive estimates on immigrant (foreign-born) workers in the United States, employed in “essential critical infrastructure” categories, as defined by the US Department of Homeland Security. It finds that immigrants in the labor force and age 16 and over, work at disproportionate rates in “essential critical infrastructure” jobs. In particular, 69 percent of all immigrants in the labor force and 74 percent of undocumented workers are essential infrastructure workers, compared to 65 percent of the native-born labor force
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Center for Migration Studies
Immigrants Comprise 31 Percent of Workers in New York State Essential Businesses and 70 Percent of the State’s Undocumented Labor Force Works in Essential Businesses
This paper provides estimates on “essential” immigrant workers in New York State. These workers play a central role in safeguarding and sustaining state residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, often at great risk to their health and that of their families. Based on estimates drawn from 2018 US Census data, the Center for Migration Studies (CMS) estimates that 1.8 million immigrants work in jobs in the “essential businesses” identified by New York State. These businesses fall into 10 categories that meet the health, infrastructure, manufacturing, service, food, safety, and other needs of state residents. The majority of the New York foreign-born essential workers – 1.04 million – are naturalized citizens, 458,400 are legal noncitizens (mostly lawful permanent residents or LPRs), and 342,100 are undocumented.
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CMS Estimates on DACA Recipients by Catholic Archdiocese and Diocese
This paper provides estimates on beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) by Roman Catholic archdiocese and diocese (“arch/diocese”) in order to assist Catholic institutions, legal service providers, pastoral workers and others in their work with DACA recipients. In addition, the paper summarizes past estimates by the Center for Migration Studies about DACA recipients, which highlight their ties and contributions to the United States. It also offers resources for Catholic institutions, educators, and professionals that serve this group.
The Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Program: Estimates of the Potentially Eligible
The Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (“LRIF”) program is the first US legalization program – creating a path to lawful permanent resident (LPR) status – in many years. There is a significant risk that many eligible Liberians and their family members may not meet the application deadline due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and poor roll-out of the program. To highlight this concern, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) has produced estimates – rounded to the nearest hundred – of the Liberian nationals who arrived in 2014 or earlier, and who are not naturalized US citizens or LPRs, and of their non-US citizen, non-LPR spouses and unmarried children who are also potentially eligible to adjust under LRIF.
Robert Warren
Reverse Migration to Mexico Led to US Undocumented Population Decline: 2010 to 2018
This paper presents estimates of the undocumented population residing in the United States in 2018. Since 2010, the total undocumented population in the United States has declined because large numbers of undocumented residents returned to Mexico. From 2010 to 2018, a total of 2.6 million Mexican nationals left the US undocumented population; about 1.1 million, or 45 percent of them, returned to Mexico voluntarily. Additional findings include the following:
- The total US undocumented population was 10.6 million in 2018, a decline of about 80,000 from 2017, and a drop of 1.2 million, or 10 percent, since 2010.
- Since 2010, about two-thirds of new arrivals have overstayed temporary visas and one-third entered illegally across the border.
- The total undocumented population in California was 2.3 million in 2018, a decline of about 600,000 compared to 2.9 million in 2010. The number from Mexico residing in the state dropped by 605,000 from 2010 to 2018.
- The undocumented population in New York State fell by 230,000, or 25 percent, from 2010 to 2018. Declines were largest for Jamaica (−51 percent), Trinidad and Tobago (−50 percent), Ecuador (−44 percent), and Mexico (−34 percent).
- Two countries had especially large population changes — in different directions — in the 2010 to 2018 period. The population from Poland dropped steadily, from 93,000 to 39,000, while the population from Venezuela increased from 65,000 to 172,000. Almost all the increase from Venezuela occurred after 2014.
Donald Kerwin, Daniela Alulema, Michael Nicholson, and Robert Warren
Statelessness in the United States: A Study to Estimate and Profile the US Stateless Population
This report describes a unique methodology to produce estimates and set forth the characteristics of US residents who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. It also lifts up the voices and challenges of stateless persons, and outlines steps to reduce statelessness and to safeguard the rights of stateless persons in the United States.
As part of the study, CMS developed extensive, well-documented profiles of non-US citizen residents who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. It then used these profiles to query American Community Survey data in order to develop provisional estimates and determine the characteristics of these populations.
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Donald Kerwin and Robert Warren
Putting Americans First: A Statistical Case for Encouraging Rather than Impeding and Devaluing US Citizenship
This paper examines the ability of immigrants to integrate and to become full Americans. Naturalization has long been recognized as a fundamental step in that process and one that contributes to the nation’s strength, cohesion, and well-being. To illustrate the continued salience of citizenship, the paper compares selected characteristics of native-born citizens, naturalized citizens, legal noncitizens (most of them lawful permanent residents [LPRs]), and undocumented residents. It finds that the integration, success, and contributions of immigrants increase as they advance toward naturalization, and that naturalized citizens match or exceed the native-born by metrics such as a college education, self-employment, average personal income, and homeownership. The paper also explores a contradiction: that the administration’s “America first” ideology obscures a set of policies that impede the naturalization process, devalue US citizenship, and prioritize denaturalization. The paper documents many of the ways that the Trump administration has sought to revoke legal status, block access to permanent residence and naturalization, and deny the rights, entitlements, and benefits of citizenship to certain groups, particularly US citizen children with undocumented parents. It also offers estimates and profiles of the persons affected by these measures, and it rebuts myths that have buttressed the administration’s policies.
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Daniela Alulema
DACA and the Supreme Court: How We Got to This Point, a Statistical Profile of Who Is Affected, and What the Future May Hold for DACA Beneficiaries
In June 2012, the Obama administration announced the establishment of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which sought to provide work authorization and a temporary reprieve from deportation to eligible undocumented young immigrants who had arrived in the United States as minors. Hundreds of thousands of youth applied for the program, which required providing extensive evidence of identity, age, residence, education, and good moral character. The program allowed its recipients to pursue higher education, to access more and better job opportunities, and to deepen their social ties in the United States. This paper provides a statistical portrait of DACA recipients based on administrative data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and estimates drawn from the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) Census data. Beyond its statistical portrait, the paper provides testimonies from DACA recipients who recount how the program improved their lives and their concerns over its possible termination. It also recommends passage of legislation that would create a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and programs and policies to support and empower young immigrants.
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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.
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......
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 paper finds that the US undocumented population from Mexico declined by 1.3 million people from 2010 to 2017, including a decrease of 400,000 from 2016 to 2017. For the first time ever, Mexican nationals constitute less than half of the total US undocumented population. The paper also finds that visa overstays contributed significantly more to the population of newly undocumented residents than illegal border crossers from 2010 to 2017. It recommends that the administration and Congress work together to: 1) provide more resources to the US Department of State for their visa-issuance work and 2) pass legislation to legalize the DREAM-Act eligible population, long-term Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries, and “intending immigrants” with US citizen or lawful permanent resident family members. These findings reveal a disconnect between public discourse on the border wall and empirical data, and argue for more nuanced and evidence-based responses to undocumented migration.
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Donald Kerwin, Robert Warren, and Mike Nicholson
Proposed Public Charge Rule Would Significantly Reduce Legal Admissions and Adjustment to Lawful Permanent Resident Status of Working Class Persons
On October 10, 2018, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued its long-anticipated proposed rule on inadmissibility on public charge grounds. Under the proposed rule, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers would consider receipt of cash benefits and, in a break from the past, non-cash medical, housing, and food benefits in making public charge determinations. This focuses on the potential effect of the proposed rule on two populations, undocumented immigrants and nonimmigrants that would otherwise be eligible for legal permanent resident (LPR) status based on a legally qualifying relationship to a US citizen or LPR living in their household. This CMS report analyzes how these populations in 2016 would have fared under the proposed rule. After placing the rule in historic context, the paper profiles these two populations and examines the characteristics that would mitigate in favor of and against their inadmissibility. The study offers a snapshot of these two groups based on estimates derived from the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS).
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Donald Kerwin
The US Refugee Resettlement Program — A Return to First Principles: How Refugees Help to Define, Strengthen, and Revitalize the United States
This paper examines the integration, achievements and contributions of 1.1 million refugees resettled in the United States from 1987 to 2016. It does so in three ways. First, it compares the household, demographic, and economic characteristics of refugees that arrived between 1987 and 2016, to comparable data for non-refugees, the foreign-born, and the total US population. Second, it compares the characteristics of refugees by period of entry, as well as to the foreign-born and total US population. Third, it examines the characteristics of refugees that arrived from the former Soviet Union between 1987 and 1999, measured in 2000 and again in 2016. By all three measures, it finds that refugees successfully integrate over time and contribute immensely to their new communities. Perhaps most dramatically, the paper shows that refugees that arrived between 1987 and 1996 exceed the total US population, which consists mostly of native-born citizens, in personal income, homeownership, college education, labor force participation, self-employment, health insurance coverage, and access to a computer and the internet. The paper also explores the successful public/private partnerships — with a particular focus on Catholic agencies — that facilitate refugee well-being and integration, and that leverage substantial private support for refugees. Overall, the paper argues that the United States should expand and strengthen its refugee resettlement program. The program has advanced US standing in the world, saved countless lives, and put millions on a path to work, self-sufficiency, and integration.
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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....
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......
Donald Kerwin and Robert Warren
DREAM Act-Eligible Poised to Build on the Investments Made in Them
This paper outlines the results of a study on young immigrants, known as the Dreamers, who would be eligible for conditional permanent status under the DREAM Act of 2017. The study paints a portrait of a highly productive, integrated group of young Americans, who are deeply committed to the United States and poised to make — with status and time — even more substantial contributions to the communities that have invested in them. These investments include $150 billion that states and localities have to date spent on the education of Dreamers. The paper highlights potential DREAM Act recipients’ large numbers, prevalence throughout the country, high levels of employment and self-employment, long residence, US families, English language proficiency, and education levels. It argues that with time and, particularly, with a path to citizenship, the Dreamers would be able to contribute significantly more to their communities. Finally, the study finds that a large number of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients, who will soon lose this status, would qualify for relief under the DREAM Act.
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Robert Warren
DHS Overestimates Visa Overstays for 2016; Overstay Population Growth Near Zero During the Year
This paper compares US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates for visa overstays in fiscal year 2016 with estimates from the Center for Migration Studies (CMS). It finds that DHS has overstated the number of people from roughly 30 counties who have overstayed their temporary visas, half of them participants in the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP). In particular, the DHS estimates for 2016 include significant numbers of temporary visa holders who left the undocumented population, but whose departure could not be verified. Thus, the actual number of visa overstays in 2016 was about half of the number estimated by DHS. The paper also shows that the population growth of visa overstays was near zero in 2016 after adjusting DHS estimates to account for unrecorded departures. The country-specific figures in this paper should help DHS improve verification of departures of temporary visitors and also to reassess decisions about admission to the VWP.
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Robert Warren and Donald Kerwin
A Statistical and Demographic Profile of the US Temporary Protected Status Populations from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti
This report presents detailed statistical information on the US Temporary Protected Status (TPS) populations from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti. It reveals hardworking populations with strong family and other ties to the United States. In addition, high percentages have lived in the United States for 20 years or more, arrived as children, and have US citizen children. ...
Robert Warren
Zero Undocumented Population Growth Is Here to Stay and Immigration Reform Would Preserve and Extend These Gains
This paper makes the case that the era of large-scale undocumented population growth has ended, and that there is a need to reform the US legal immigration system to preserve and extend US gains in reducing undocumented entries and the US undocumented population overall. The paper demonstrates that a broad and sustained reduction in undocumented immigration to the United States occurred in the 2008 to 2015 period. It shows that the Great Recession had little, if any, role in the transformation to zero population growth of the undocumented population. Rather, the undocumented population stopped growing because of increased scrutiny of air travel after 9/11, a decade and a half of accelerating efforts to reduce illegal entries across the southern border, long-term increases in the numbers leaving the population each year, and improved economic and demographic conditions in Mexico. These conditions are likely to continue for the foreseeable future....
Robert Warren and Donald Kerwin
The 2,000 Mile Wall in Search of a Purpose: Since 2007 Visa Overstays have Outnumbered Undocumented Border Crossers by a Half Million
This paper speaks to another reason to question the necessity and value of a 2,000-mile wall along the US-Mexico border: It does not reflect the reality of how the large majority of persons now become undocumented. The paper presents information about the mode of arrival of the undocumented population that resided in the United States in 2014. To simplify the presentation, it divides the 2014 population into two groups: overstays and entries without inspection (EWIs). The estimates are based primarily on detailed estimates of the undocumented population in 2014 compiled by CMS and estimates of overstays for 2015 derived by the US Department of Homeland Security. ...
Donald Kerwin, Roberto Suro, Tess Thorman and Daniela Alulema
The DACA Era and the Continuous Legalization Work of the US Immigrant-Serving Community
This CMS Report documents performance and growing capacity of the immigrant servicing-community during the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program ...
Robert Warren, Donald Kerwin
Mass Deportations Would Impoverish US Families and Create Immense Social Costs
This paper provides a statistical portrait of the US undocumented population, with an emphasis on the social and economic condition of mixed-status households – that is, households that contain a US citizen and an undocumented resident. The study finds that mass deportations would plunge millions of US families into poverty, cost $118 billion to care for US-citizen children of deported parents, imperil the housing market and reduce GDP.
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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....
Donald Kerwin, Robert Warren
Potential Beneficiaries of the Obama Administration’s Executive Action Programs Deeply Embedded in US Society
This paper offers a statistical portrait of the intended direct beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and the DACA expansion (DACA-plus) programs. It finds that potential DAPA, DACA, and DACA-plus recipients are deeply embedded in US society, with high employment rates, extensive US family ties, long tenure, and substantial rates of English-language proficiency. The paper also notes various groups that would benefit indirectly from the full implementation of DAPA and DACA or, conversely, would suffer from the removal of potential beneficiaries of these programs. The authors find these populations have become embedded in US society and that an unknown, albeit not insubstantial percentage of both the DAPA- and DACA-eligible may already qualify for an immigration benefit or relief that would put them on a path to permanent residency and US citizenship....
Robert Warren
US Undocumented Population Drops Below 11 Million in 2014, with Continued Declines in the Mexican Undocumented Population
Undocumented immigration has been a significant political issue in recent years, and is likely to remain so throughout and beyond the presidential election year of 2016. One reason for the high and sustained level of interest in undocumented immigration is the widespread belief that the trend in the undocumented population is ever upward. This paper shows that this belief is mistaken and that, in fact, the undocumented population has been decreasing for more than a half a decade. Other findings of the paper that should inform the immigration debate are the growing naturalized citizen populations in almost every US state and the fact that, since 1980, the legally resident foreign-born population from Mexico has grown faster than the undocumented population from Mexico....
Robert Warren, Donald Kerwin
The US Eligible-to-Naturalize Population: Detailed Social and Economic Characteristics
Naturalization is a crucial step in the full integration of immigrants into US society. However, sufficient information has not been available on the naturalization-eligible that would allow the federal government, states, localities, and non-governmental service providers to develop targeted strategies on a local level to assist this population to naturalize and to overcome barriers to eligibility. This paper offers detailed estimates of the eligible-to-naturalize based on data collected in the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). The data can be used to identify naturalization-eligible populations by geographic area, source country, and a variety of demographic criteria. The findings detailed in this Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) paper show that high percentages of the 8.6 million potentially eligible immigrants are well-situated to naturalize. However, others may have difficulty meeting the naturalization requirements without extensive support, including the 1.16 million who do not speak English; 3.0 million with less than a high school education; and the 1.8 million with incomes below the poverty level. This study can help focus resources where they are most needed to reach and support naturalization-eligible residents interested in naturalizing, as well as provide a factual basis for reforming naturalization policies....
Charles Kamasaki, Susan Timmons, Courtney Tudi
Immigration Reform and Administrative Relief for 2014 and Beyond: A Report on Behalf of the Committee for Immigration Reform Implementation (CIRI), Human Resources Working Group
Successful implementation of any broad-scale immigrant legalization program requires an adequately funded infrastructure of immigrant-serving organizations. As the initial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program instituted in 2012 has already stretched the capacity of immigrant-serving organizations to their limits or even beyond them, the possibility of full implementation of DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents) and the expanded DACA programs presents a formidable challenge for these organizations. In this paper, the Human Resources Working Group of the Committee for Immigration Reform Implementation (CIRI) draws on the lessons of the Immigrant Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), DACA, and other initiatives to provide a roadmap for immigrant service delivery agencies and their partners in planning for implementation of the expanded DACA and the DAPA programs, with an eye (ultimately) to broad legislative reform. In particular, this paper focuses on the funding and human resources that the immigrant service delivery field, writ large, would require to implement these programs....
Robert Warren, Donald Kerwin
Beyond DAPA and DACA: Revisiting Legislative Reform in Light of Long-Term Trends in Unauthorized Immigration to the United States
This paper documents dramatic changes in unauthorized immigration to the United States in the past two decades. It presents estimates of the unauthorized resident population derived from American Community Survey data, supplemented by recent estimates produced by Warren and Warren (2013), and statistics from IPUMS-USA. The paper highlights several trends that emerge from this data, including the precipitous decline in arrivals into this population since 2000 (particularly from Mexico), the rapidly increasing average length of residence of unauthorized residents, and the growing salience of visa overstays in constituting this population. The paper provides estimates of those who would be eligible for the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs. However it also looks beyond these programs to make the case that substantial declines in the unauthorized population — a goal shared by partisans on both sides of the immigration reform debate — will require legislation that reforms the legal immigration system, legalizes a large percentage of the unauthorized, and effectively responds to nonimmigrant visa overstays....
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......
Robert Warren
US-born Children of Undocumented Residents: Numbers and Characteristics in 2013
Introduction The constitutionally guaranteed right to US citizenship to persons born in the United States has received considerable attention in the 2016 Republican presidential campaign. A recent report [1] by the Pew Research Center describes long-term trends in births of US-born children to undocumented residents and it provides a general description......
Roberto Suro
California Dreaming: The New Dynamism in Immigration Federalism and Opportunities for Inclusion on a Variegated Landscape
The relationship between states, localities and the federal government on immigration matters began to undergo a dramatic shift with the passage of Proposition 187 in California in 1994. This has led to the development of a new dynamism in immigration federalism over the last twenty years, particularly in the absence of federal legislation on several pressing immigration challenges. This paper concludes that immigration policymaking and implementation is increasingly characterized by the distribution of power across all levels of government, leading to divergent and varied outcomes. Some states and localities have adopted enforcement regimes meant to heighten the impact of federal exclusion. Others have created conditions and policies that seek to welcome and incorporate unauthorized immigrants as residents. While the federal government retains the authority to determine an individual’s immigration status, sub-federal initiatives that aim at mitigation and inclusion for unauthorized immigrants are strongly shaping the practical consequences of immigration status. Moreover, diverse immigration policies on a state and local basis are likely to increase in the future, particularly in the absence of federal immigration reform....
Donald Kerwin and Robert Warren
National Interests and Common Ground in the US Immigration Debate: How to Legalize the US Immigration System and Permanently Reduce its Undocumented Population
This paper identifies potential common ground in the US immigration debate, including the national interests that underlie US immigration and refugee policies, and broad public support for a legal and orderly immigration system that serves compelling national interests. It focuses on the cornerstone of immigration reform, the legal immigration system, and addresses the widespread belief that broad reform will incentivize illegal migration and ultimately lead to another large undocumented population....
María E. Enchautegui
Legalization Programs and the Integration of Unauthorized Immigrants: A Comparison of S. 744 and IRCA
Experiences under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) may prove to be a poor guide for understanding how smoothly today’s unauthorized immigrants will integrate into the economy under reform proposals such as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744). While IRCA provided a relatively quick path to legal permanent resident status, S. 744 proposes a decade long process with much attendant uncertainty. This and other provisions in S. 744 may adversely affect immigrants’ integration and economic mobility. ...
Tom K. Wong, Donald Kerwin, Jeanne M. Atkinson, Mary Meg McCarthy
Paths to Lawful Immigration Status: Results and Implications from the PERSON Survey
Anecdotal evidence suggests that a significant percentage of unauthorized immigrants in the United States are also potentially eligible for some sort of immigration relief, but they either do not know it or are not able to pursue lawful immigration status for other reasons. However, no published study has systematically analyzed this issue.Using the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as a laboratory for this work, the authors conducted a nationwide surveyof immigrant-serving organizations that provide legal services. The study reports that 14.3 percent of individuals that were found to be eligible for DACA, which provides temporary relief from deportation, were also found to be eligible for some other form of immigration relief and may already be on a path towards lawful permanent residency....
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
Democratizing Data about Unauthorized Residents in the United States: Estimates and Public-Use Data, 2010 to 2013
Information about the unauthorized resident population is needed to develop and evaluate US immigration policy, determine the social and economic effects of unauthorized immigration, and assist public and private service providers in carrying out their missions. Until recently, estimates have been available only for selected data points at the national and sometimes the state level. The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) convened a meeting in September 2013 to assess the need for information about the unauthorized resident population. The meeting included leading academics, researchers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that serve immigrants, and local, state, and federal government representatives. Based on the recommendations from that meeting, CMS initiated a project to derive estimates of the size and characteristics of the unauthorized population at the national, state, and sub-state levels, and to make the information readily available to a wide cross-section of users. A series of statistical procedures were developed to derive estimates based on microdata collected by the US Census Bureau in the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS). The estimates provide detailed demographic information for unauthorized residents in population units as small as 100,000 persons. Overall, the estimates are consistent with the limited information produced by residual estimation techniques. A primary consideration in constructing the estimates was to protect the privacy of ACS respondents....
Events
Immigrant Essential Workers, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Community Responses
Report and Event on Statelessness in the United States
The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) hosted a presentation on its report on statelessness in the United States.
The Contributions of Refugees to the Nation and the Importance of a Robust US Refugee Program
Private: WEBINAR | A Statistical and Demographic Profile of the US Temporary Protected Status Populations from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti
National Interests and Potential Common Ground in the US Immigration Debates: Legal Immigration Reform v. Mass Deportation and the Wall
Immigration Reform and Administrative Relief: 2014 and Beyond
Democratizing Data and Promoting Legalization/Regularization without Federal Immigration Reform
Introducing the New CMS Database to Find Estimates and Characteristics of the Unauthorized
New Study on Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States
Tables, Charts and Figures
DATA ON ESSENTIAL WORKERS | Recent Publications and Tables
Data Tables Offer Detailed Characteristics of Temporary Protection Status Recipients from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti by State
Eight tables displaying detailed characteristics of TPS recipients from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti, respectively, by US state and of TPS recipients from the three countries, collectively, by US state.
TABLE | 2013 Immigrant Population Eligible to Naturalize in the United States, by Country of Origin and State of Residence
TABLE | 2013 Immigrant Population Eligible to Naturalize in the United States, by State of Residence
TABLE | 2013 Estimated Total Number Eligible for DACA and DAPA, by State of Residence