Migration Policy Institute (MPI) research finds that nearly 2 million, or one-quarter, of immigrant college graduates are either unemployed or work in jobs that require no more than a high school degree. This brain waste comes with a price tag of $10 billion in forgone federal, state, and local taxes each year. But there are also…

Since its launch by the Obama administration in August 2012, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has provided work authorization and a two-year reprieve from deportation to nearly 800,000 unauthorized immigrants who came to the United States as children. Having marked its fifth anniversary, the program--and its…

About 5.3 million English Language Learners (ELLs)--students whose primary language is not English and whose English language skills are not sufficient to keep up with classes conducted only in English--are enrolled in PK-12 public schools across the United States. The number of these students increased dramatically in ten years, from 3.5 million…

This report assesses the impact of immigration on the United States. The first section examines basic demographic trends regarding the scale of immigration, its pace, and its characteristics. Census 2000 figures suggest that immigration levels, particularly levels of undocumented and temporary immigration, are substantially higher than originally…

Documents the prevalence of mixed immigration status families, discussing immigration and citizenship policies that drive their formation. Population data show that nearly 1 in 10 families with children is of mixed citizenship status, and 75 percent of children in immigrant families are citizens. Identifies challenges that mixed status families…

This brief examines changes in the number of naturalized citizens in the United States and the rate of naturalization, also exploring the size and characteristics of the pool of immigrants now or soon to be eligible to naturalize. Analysis of data from the Current Population Survey indicates that beginning in the mid-1990s, the number of…

This paper examines policies regarding access to social benefits and the labor market in nine representative liberal industrialized democracies. Five are self-consciously nations of immigration: the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, and France. Four are de-facto immigration nations within the European Union (EU): Germany, the Netherlands,…

An overview is provided of the basic elements of the nation's immigrant integration and immigration policies as they affect immigrant families. The focus is on two sets of reforms under consideration by Congress that would have far-reaching effects. One set of changes would curb legal immigrants' access to a wide array of public benefits. The…

This paper examines the assimilation of immigrant families in the United States. Chapter 1, "Introduction," reviews basic issues. Chapter 2, "Why Discuss the Integration of Immigrant Families?" examines such issues as continuing mismatches between immigration and immigrant policies, population dispersal, the shifting political…

This guidebook is designed to help local policy makers, program implementers, and advocates use U.S. Census and other data sources to identify immigrant populations in their local communities (their characteristics, contributions, and needs). It lists relevant data sources, the information contained in each, where they can be located, and software…

In 1999 and 2000, immigrants in Los Angeles, California, and New York, New York were aurveyed about their status in the context of welfare reform, examining the living conditions of 3,447 immigrant families roughly 3 years after welfare reform was implemented and several months before the federal government issued guidance about the public charge…

This book synthesizes the views of California's preeminent rural development researchers on how immigration is transforming rural California communities. It draws on papers presented at two conferences held in Asilomar and Riverside (California) in 1995 and 1996. Conference participants were asked to consider whether rural poverty is being…

This paper highlights three major aspects of recent trends in immigration and their impact on schools: high sustained flows, growing geographic dispersal, and an increase in undocumented immigration. It focuses on such topics as who comes to the United States (legal, humanitarian, and undocumented immigrants); demographic context (income level and…