Report

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).

Communities in Crisis: Interior Removals and Their Human Consequences

The Kino Border Initiative (KBI), CMS, and the Office of Justice and Ecology (OJE) of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States released a new report examining the characteristics of deportees and the effects of deportation. This report details findings from the CRISIS Study (Catholic Removal Impact Survey in Society), which interviewed deportees at KBI’s migrant shelter in Nogales, Sonora, and those affected by deportation in Catholic parishes in Florida, Michigan, and Minnesota. The interviews explored: (1) the impact of removals on deportees, their families, and other community members; (2) the deportation process; and (3) the relationship between deportees and their families. The report also includes policy recommendations to mitigate the ill effects of the administration’s policies and promote the integrity of families and communities, including: using detention as a “last resort;” reducing funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and limiting collaboration between police and ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Chaos on the US-Mexico Border: A Report on the Migrant Crossing Deaths, Immigrant Families, and Subsistence-Level Laborers

This report analyzes the effect of US immigration policies on migrants and residents along the US-Mexico border. It begins with a discussion of US border enforcement strategies and expenditures. It describes the multifaceted impact of these policies on migrants, their...

The Needless Detention of Immigrants in the United States: Why Are We Locking Up Asylum-Seekers, Children, Stateless Persons, Long-Term Permanent Residents, and Petty Offenders?

This report contributes to the extensive literature on the suffering caused by the US immigration detention system, with a focus on the government’s failure to pursue alternatives to detention for persons that need not and should not be detained. It...

Work without Justice: Low-Wage Immigrant Laborers

This report explores the plight of low-wage immigrant laborers who play a crucial role in the US economy, but earn subsistence-level wages, receive poor benefits, and face occupational hazards at high rates. It follows immigrant laborers from their countries of...

Citizenship at Risk: New Obstacles to Naturalization

Citizenship is an integral part of the democratic process, affording rights and privileges, as well as triggering important responsibilities. This report describes the impact of denaturalization on stripping persons of citizenship, as well as the effects of backlogs, poor service,...

Placing Immigrants at Risk: The Impact of Our Laws and Policies on American Families

This report is the first in a series that documents the effects of US immigration laws and policies on immigrants. Although family unity is a pillar of the US immigration system, this system devastates many US families. Processing delays, backlogs,...

2018 International Migration Policy Report: Perspectives on the Content and Implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration

The global network of seven Scalabrini think tanks on migration released its second international migration policy report, “Perspectives on the Content and Implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration.” The report examines the issues discussed and negotiated by UN member states in developing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (“the Compact”). Section 1 explores the issues that have been controversial in negotiations of the Compact and features research on migration challenges, including return migration, labor migration, and unaccompanied migrant children. This section also offers recommendations for how to resolve these issues and ensure the Compact’s successful implementation. Section 2 showcases short essays addressing “on the ground” issues confronting migrants in vulnerable situations, with a focus on how faith-based organizations help fill service and protection gaps. Finally, section 3 presents the numerous interventions made by Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN) and CMS during the consultation and negotiation phase of the Compact.

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.

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.