Immigration strategies

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Every day, organizations worldwide are engaged in a collective two steps forward, one step back march toward improved immigration services and policies. What hard-earned lessons are these nonprofits, and the foundations that support them, learning from their persistent efforts? This collection of evaluations, case studies, and lessons learned exposes and explores the nuances of effective collaboration, the value of coordinated messaging, the bedrock of ongoing advocacy efforts, and the vital importance of long-term and flexible funding.

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Tracked: Stories at the Intersection of Migration, Technology, and Human Rights

December 15, 2022

Hundreds of millions of people cross borders every year. They are fleeing violence, escaping persecution, joining family, and pursuing jobs abroad. But whether they travel by land, air, or sea, these migrants encounter technologies designed to help governments manage who is coming to or passing through their countries. These technologies collect several types of migrant data.CSIS explored some of the technologies migrants encounter during their journeys as well as the human rights implications of their use. Analyzing what motivates governments to deploy technology, and how destination countries in Europe and North America influence that decision-making, is critical to understanding the implications of these decisions on migrant rights.

Refugees & Asylum Seekers

A Ripple, Not a Wave: Comparing the Last Decade of Foundation Funding for Migrant Communities and Movements

October 27, 2022

Since NCRP's first report describing the state of foundation funding for immigrant and refugee groups, the world has grown more dangerous for people on the move.Although COVID-19 slowed migration for a short time, climate disasters and deteriorating social, political, and economic conditions around the world have led more people to seek homes in new places. In the United States, right-wing politicians have continued their decades-long tactic of treating immigrants and refugees as political pawns. Former President Donald Trump used migrants as an easy scapegoat for division, effectively zeroing the country's refugee resettlement goals throughout his presidential term. In 2021, Customs and Border Protection officers on horseback were caught on camera using whips to drive Haitian asylum seekers away. Several Republican governors sent buses or planes misleading migrants north in a craven political stunt. And after 10 years of instability, the Supreme Court looks poised to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for good, meaning more than 600,000 people who have built their lives in the United States will become vulnerable to deportation. These attacks are unfair and harmful not only to people moving across borders, but to all of us.NCRP's new data shows that more funders participate in pro-immigrant and pro-refugee philanthropic spaces today than they did in the past. This is progress, but it's far from enough. NCRP also found that the pro-immigrant, pro-refugee movement's share of all foundation grants has shrunk 11% since DACA was first introduced, even as foundations themselves have grown richer. Too many foundations and major donors have ignored groups that are adept at advocating for their communities and holding political leaders accountable. Because of this, the migrant community – and our country – face more precarity today.In the last few years alone, pro-immigrant and pro-refugee groups have resettled refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine, advocated for the specific needs of queer migrants, organized Black-led groups in a model of mutual aid, strengthened safeguards for our democracy and focused attention on urgent climate emergencies, all while sounding a constant message of welcome. Migrant organizations, especially movement advocacy groups, have done this in the face of an increasingly hostile political environment with extremely limited resources because funders have fallen short.Now more than ever, foundations must move with intention and urgency to center, support and follow the lead of the pro-immigrant and pro-refugee movement.This isn't just the right thing to do. It's also necessary if funders hope to meet their racial justice commitments, support dignity for all and reach groups with underappreciated solutions for each of their "issue" portfolios.NCRP hopes this tool, informed by the deep wisdom of so many community and philanthropic leaders, will help move the philanthropic sector toward justice.

Midterms 2022: The Changing Demographics of the Electorate

October 3, 2022

2016 may not feel like a significant time ago, but the 2020 elections, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine have all transformed the tenor and dynamics of American politics. Beyond political developments, the demographics of the electorate have continued to evolve significantly over this time.Data from the 2020 Census already demonstrated how the U.S. population has continued to diversify ethnically and racially. This demographic change is now being seen in the voting-eligible population, as younger and more diverse generations age into voting eligibility and as more immigrants take the important step of gaining U.S. citizenship and the right to vote.With the 2022 midterm elections on the horizon, this map uses data from the Current Population Survey to show which states' electorates are changing most rapidly. In swing states where close races are expected to take place, the extent to which changing electorates can be activated by each campaign may ultimately help determine who wins and loses come November.

What It Means To Be Asian in America: The lived experiences and perspectives of Asian Americans in their own words

August 2, 2022

No single experience defines what it means to be Asian in the United States today. Instead, Asian Americans' lived experiences are in part shaped by where they were born, how connected they are to their family's ethnic origins, and how others – both Asians and non-Asians – see and engage with them in their daily lives. Yet despite diverse experiences, backgrounds and origins, shared experiences and common themes emerged when we asked: "What does it mean to be Asian in America?"In the fall of 2021, Pew Research Center undertook the largest focus group study it had ever conducted – 66 focus groups with 264 total participants – to hear Asian Americans talk about their lived experiences in America. The focus groups were organized into 18 distinct Asian ethnic origin groups, fielded in 18 languages and moderated by members of their own ethnic groups. Because of the pandemic, the focus groups were conducted virtually, allowing us to recruit participants from all parts of the United States. This approach allowed us to hear a diverse set of voices – especially from less populous Asian ethnic groups whose views, attitudes and opinions are seldom presented in traditional polling. The approach also allowed us to explore the reasons behind people's opinions and choices about what it means to belong in America, beyond the preset response options of a traditional survey.

New American Fortune 500 in 2022

June 8, 2022

Immigrant entrepreneurs have long been an important part of America's economic success story. Some of the largest and most recognizable American companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants. This includes household names such as Apple and Costco, as well as newcomers to the Fortune 500 list like Jackson Financial and Caesar's Entertainment. Even Moderna, the pharmaceutical company and vaccine producer, was founded by a Canadian-born stem cell biologist, Derrick J. Rossi, whose parents themselves emigrated from Malta.Since our first New American Fortune 500 report in 2011, the Council has found that more than two out of every five Fortune 500 companies--the 500 largest corporations by revenue in the country--had at least one immigrant or child-of-immigrant founder. This pattern has continued over the years since. This year, we find that 43.8 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.

Amid Rising Inflation, Immigrant Workers Help Ease Labor Shortages

May 4, 2022

The U.S. finds itself grappling with the highest levels of inflation since the 1980s, caused largely by an imbalance between the demand and supply of both labor and goods and services. As labor makes up around two-thirds of the total production costs of private businesses, economists now worry that with the U.S. economy reaching full employment, without more workers, wage increases could push prices—and inflation—even higher.The U.S. labor force was already facing an aging crisis before the pandemic. Then COVID-19 discouraged even more people from working. On top of this, there has been record turnover among active workers, with many looking for better pay and working conditions in what is being called the Great Resignation.This leaves no clear way of meeting current labor demands domestically or filling the millions of new jobs that will be created over the next decade. While many jobs will be taken on by young people entering the workforce, demographic trends suggest that the labor market will still need immigrant workers to make up the shortfall.Using employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), data on job openings from Burning Glass, and data from the American Community Survey, we explore how immigration can help meet labor demands and steer the economy back to a sustainable growth path.

Temporary Protected Status is critically important immigration relief for TPS holders and the U.S. economy

April 13, 2022

New FWD.us statistical analysis shows that longtime holders of Temporary Protected Status (TPS)—a designation granted by the Department of Homeland Security offering work authorization and deportation protections for individuals in the U.S. who cannot safely return to their home countries—are able to contribute significantly to the U.S. economy.

Refugees & Asylum Seekers

TRAC Immigration

October 15, 2021

TRAC's Immigration Project is a unique new multi-year effort to systematically go after very detailed information from the government, check it for accuracy and completeness and then make it available in an understandable way to the American people, Congress, immigration groups and others.Currently available on TRAC's Immigration site are reports focusing on Border Patrol apprehensions along the border, Border Patrol staffing, criminal enforcement in the federal district courts and government inspections activities at the designated ports of entry. Additional reports and studies are under development on a range of subjects such as the granting of immigration benefits — green cards, naturalization, affirmative asylum, etc — and the workings of the immigration courts. These reports and the latest data obtained from the government will be posted to our new site as the information is obtained from the various agencies, checked for accuracy and completeness and analyzed.

America's Agricultural Workers and Immigration: A Changing Landscape

October 14, 2021

Farm workers are essential to America's critical food infrastructure. Despite abundant and fertile land, our food supply of fresh fruit and vegetables relies increasingly on imported produce as labor shortages in the crop production industry persist. To shed more light on this worrying trend, we analyzed data from the United States Department of Agriculture and American Community Survey on the U.S.' fruit and vegetable supply, on the workers who harvest these crops, and the trends affecting America's agriculture industry over the past decade. We find that immigrants play a crucial role in our nation's food supply chain, and they will continue to do so as essential workers harvesting America's fruits and vegetables.

Combatting the AAPI Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype

May 20, 2021

The rise in anti-Asian bias attacks and rhetoric have brought new attention to numerous stereotypes that have long plagued Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the United States. While last week's post focused on the model minority myth, unpacking how the high achievement metrics of AAPIs in general masks the needs and realities of more vulnerable AAPI communities, this week we focus on another stereotype, that of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as perpetual foreigners. The perpetual foreign stereotype depicts Asian American and Pacific Islanders as outsiders and aliens regardless of where they were born or how long they have lived in the United States.This all, of course, runs counter to the reality and the data. Asian American and Pacific Islanders have a long history in what is now the United States, dating back to the 18th century. Moreover, after decades of significant immigration from Asia following the 1965 removal of discriminatory country quotas, the AAPI community is increasingly U.S.-born, with the U.S.-born AAPI population now growing faster than the AAPI immigrant population. On top of this, immigrant Asian American and Pacific Islanders now have higher than average rates of naturalization and 2020 saw the highest voter participation rates for AAPI voters in history. But, despite these positive developments, issues that affect some segments of the AAPI community still merit attention, including undocumented immigrants and certain immigrant groups with limited English language proficiency.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Trends and Contributions

November 1, 2017

This article analyzes recent U.S. data to examine how immigrants during the last 15 years have contributed to entrepreneurship through self-employment and earnings. It aims to address the questions of how do immigrants contribute to recent U.S. self-employment trends, in what industries are immigrant entrepreneurs concentrated, and how do their earnings compare to those of U.S.-born entrepreneurs?

Power and Potential: The Growing Electoral Clout of New Citizens

October 1, 2004

Immigrants - and groups in which immigrants are a large percentage of the population, such as Latinos and Asian/Pacific Islanders (APIs) - are a growing portion of the U.S. electorate. In a closely contested presidential race, the growing ranks of "new citizens" - foreign-born individuals who become "naturalized" U.S. citizens - are increasingly important political players. This report uses U.S. Census data from the 1996 and 2000 election years to describe key characteristics of immigrant, Latino, and API voters. The findings include: New CitizensIn 2000, there were 10.7 million adult new citizens in the United States, 6.2 million of whom were registered to vote and 5.4 million of whom actually voted.Although new citizens in general have lower rates of voter turnout than natives, new citizens who are registered to vote have higher rates of voter turnout than natives who are registered to vote.In just the four-year period from 1996 to 2000, the number of adult new citizens rose by 30 percent, the number of those registered to vote increased 20 percent, and the number who voted grew by 24.7 percent.New citizens accounted for more than half of the net increase in persons registered to vote between 1996 and 2000.The votes of new citizens are particularly important in "battleground" states - such as Arizona, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington- where victory or defeat in an election may be decided by relatively few votes.The percentage of immigrants who were naturalized citizens rose from 37.5 percent in 1996 to 39.7 percent in 2000.Latinos and Asian/Pacific IslandersIn 2000, there were 13.2 million adult, U.S.-citizen Latinos, of whom 7.6 million were registered to vote and 5.9 million actually voted. There were 4.6 million adult, U.S.-citizen APIs, including 2.4 million registered to vote and 2 million who in fact voted.While Latinos and APIs in general have lower rates of voter turnout than non-Latino "Whites," the turnout rates of Latinos and APIs who are registered to vote is close to that of Whites who are registered to vote.The numbers of Latinos and APIs who became U.S. citizens, registered to vote, and actually voted increased substantially between 1996 and 2000. The number of Whites registered to vote declined by 0.5 percent during this period.Latino and API voters accounted for more than a third of all new voters added to the rolls between 1996 and 2000.